Just Like Starting Over
by DCFanatic4life
Summary: Shane doesn't think he needs anyone, Trish is stuck in a rut, Chris and Steph are happy, but at some point, something's got to give...Sequel to Beginning in an Ending, but that doesn't need to be read to get this story...Shane/Trish, Chris/Steph
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or real people in this story. The characters belong to WWE and the people own themselves.

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**A/N: I probably should've posted this a long time ago, sorry, but this is the sequel to _Beginning in an Ending_. You probably don't have to read that one to get this one as it has totally different plot lines. This story alternates between the main characters: Shane, Trish, and Chris/Stephanie, so it's not primarily a Chris/Steph story at all. It takes place very shortly where the first one left off.

I hope you enjoy it and let me know if I should post more of it by leaving a review! Be brutal if you want, just review. :)

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"Hey, come back here!"

Shane looked up from his desk and into the hallway. He saw Stephanie chasing Finnegan down the hallway. Shane looked at the clock and realized that she must've just picked up the little boy from preschool, and he had taken his energy home with him. Of course, since Finnegan spent every other day at Titan Towers, it had to get a little bit boring for him. He knew the place like the back of his hand though and Finnegan ran to his door.

"Hi Uncle Shane!" Finnegan said brightly.

"Hey Finn," Shane said as Stephanie came behind her son and leaned in the doorway. "What's up?"

"I made something for you, Uncle Shane," Finnegan told him, holding something behind his back. "I wanted to give it to you, is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay," Shane said enthusiastically. "I would love to get something from you, you always know that."

"He didn't have to run all the way here," Stephanie said. "He got in the elevator without me!"

"I've been trying to escape your mommy for years, I don't blame you, Finn," Shane winked as his nephew came forward. "So am I going to like what you got me?"

"Uh huh," Finnegan nodded eagerly. He pulled the item from behind his back and thrust it in Shane's face, grinning wildly. "Here you go, Uncle Shane. I made it blue because I like blue, it's my favoritest color."

Shane took the gift from his nephew and saw that it was a picture frame made out of popsicle sticks. The sticks had been painted blue and then arranged to make a picture frame, with a little thing in the back to hold it up on a desk. In the frame was a picture of Finnegan, a wide grin on his face as he stood there looking like a cute, little kid.

"Wow, thanks Finn, are you sure that you don't want to give this to your mommy or daddy though?" Shane asked.

"No," Finnegan told him, shaking his head. "I told Miss Trayger that I wanted to make mine for you, and she said that was okay, that I could do that. Because Mommy and Daddy have pictures of me already."

"Well, I have pictures of you too," Shane told him, turning some of the pictures on his desk for Finnegan to see. "See, there you are, and there you are again."

"But Uncle Shane," he whined. "I made it, so it's better. And Mommy said that I should say that this is a better picture because I'm very cute, right Mommy, that's what you said, right?"

"You are very cute," Stephanie told him with a smile. "He wanted to make it for you, Shane. He's been talking about it the whole car ride here, about how you were going to like it and everything. He wants you to have it, and he's right, Chris and I have plenty of pictures of him."

"If you're sure, he's your--"

"Take it," Stephanie insisted.

"Well okay, thank you Finn, this is the best gift I've ever gotten," he said, leaning down so that he could hug his nephew. "I'll put it right here on my desk so that I can see you whenever I want to."

Shane put the picture frame on his desk and Finnegan came over and stood next to him as he looked at it, then at the paperwork that he was doing. "Whatcha doin, Uncle Shane?"

"Boring, grown-up stuff."

"From Grandpa?" he asked, knowing that his grandpa made his mommy do lots of boring, grown-up stuff and that's why he had to sit and watch television or color when she was trying to work.

"Yeah, from Grandpa," Shane said.

"Oh, looks easy," Finnegan said, though he had no idea what he was looking at. "Mommy and I practice reading every night."

"Wow, you're so smart for that," Shane told him kindly.

"Come on Finny, Uncle Shane has work to do and so does Mommy, you can help me with my work, I need someone to tell me what colors to use for my files," Stephanie said.

"But I want to stay with Uncle Shane," Finnegan pouted as he leaned his chin on Shane's desk. "I don't want to go with you, I want to stay with Uncle Shane and help him."

"I don't think Uncle Shane needs help," Stephanie told him. "So come on, we'll leave Uncle Shane alone and you can help me."

"He can stay if he wants to, Steph, I have no problem with that," Shane interjected. Being around Finnegan made him feel young, like he was just a kid again. In this fast-paced adult world, sometimes it was nice to just slow down. Finnegan was certainly enough to get his mind off work for at least a little bit.

"But you have work to do," she said. "You should do that, you don't need a four year old--"

"I'm almost five, Mommy!" Finnegan protested.

"In a couple months, Finny, so you're not five yet," Stephanie said good-naturedly. "You can stay with Uncle Shane for an hour, okay, then you have to come back okay, is that a deal?"

"It's a deal," he nodded as he looked to his uncle. Stephanie came over and kissed him on the head before leaving the room and heading upstairs to her own office. Finnegan stared at his uncle, wondering what they were going to do.

"So…" Shane said.

"Mommy writes the stories for the wrestlers," Finnegan said definitively. "Is that what you do, Uncle Shane?"

"No, I work with the media, like the commercials and the website. You've seen the website, your picture has been on it with your mommy and your daddy," Shane informed him.

Finnegan nodded. "Even though Mommy said to Grandpa that she doesn't want to see my picture because I'm not a wrestler…I'm just a little kid."

"You are a little kid, but just about the coolest kid that ever lived," Shane said, and he wasn't being far off from the truth. Finnegan was an awesome little kid. It also helped that he was Shane's nephew and that Shane had been there for his entire life, and had seen him as the baby who had a touch of colic, but nothing that Stephanie couldn't handle since she was Wonder Woman and everything.

"I'm cool!" Finnegan said excitedly, glad that his uncle thought so highly of him. "Can I help you, Uncle Shane? I help Mommy sometimes when she lets me."

"Well…I don't know, you can tell me what you think of some things if you want. We could always use a good critic," Shane told him nicely.

"Okay! I can help with that," he said.

Shane picked up the little boy and sat him on his knee as he turned on the television hanging on the wall next to his desk, turning the chair to watch. He played some of the upcoming commercials for the next Pay-Per-View, and watched Finnegan as he watched the commercials, trying to gauge his reaction. He looked fascinated by what he was watching and when the tape finished, he looked up, grinning at his uncle.

"I liked it, Uncle Shane," Finnegan said.

"Well that's great," he told him good-naturedly. "I'm sure that everyone else is going to love it too. I would show you another one, but it has Undertaker in it."

Finnegan's eyes got wide and he shook his head vigorously, "No, I don't want to see Undertaker, he's scary."

"Okay, we'll stick to other stuff."

Shane ended up showing Finnegan stuff on the internet and going through the site. Finnegan made Shane go to Chris's profile and Finnegan gave Shane a nice profile of Chris through all of the pictures as Shane just laughed and got excited whenever he got to explain a move to his Uncle Shane. The little boy was shaping up to be quite knowledgeable in the ways of wrestling, which probably made Stephanie ecstatic since she wanted to pass down the company to Finnegan eventually.

"Hey guys."

Shane looked up and saw Chris standing in the doorway. "Oh hey man, what's up?"

"Just came to pick up Finn, you ready to go kiddo?" Chris asked, walking into the room and over to the desk, "What are you looking at?"

"I was telling Uncle Shane about the Lionsault, Daddy, and how you said that the secret is to make sure you lean back on the ropes, right Daddy, because I'm going to do the Lionsault too," Finnegan said matter-of-factly.

"Yup, that's the secret," he said.

"I've got to go, Uncle Shane, but I'll talk to you later," Finnegan said as he hopped off his uncle's lap and over to his Daddy. "Daddy, can we have hot dogs for dinner?"

"If you want, I guess it would be okay, we'll stop by the store," Chris said, leaning down and letting Finnegan climb onto his back. "Thanks for watching him, man."

"Never a problem, bye Finn."

"Bye Uncle Shane," Finnegan waved as Chris piggy-backed him out of the room, and Shane could hear him chattering to Chris the entire way to the elevator. He went back to his work and it was suddenly much quieter and he realized that when Finnegan was around, doing work seemed more fun somehow, but now it was back to the grind.

His schedule didn't leave much time for goofing off, so when Finnegan was here, it at least gave him some time to be a little kid again, to not really worry about things. It made him thankful that his sister had gotten herself pregnant when she did. Finnegan was in that stage where he was starting to be able to have a full conversation and comprehend what was being said. It was a cool age, everything was still new and exciting, and with Finnegan actually starting to read too, it was just a really special time and he was glad that he got to share in that, however briefly.

He always thought that kids would be a nice idea, but he wasn't getting any younger. He was thirty-seven now, no wife, no girlfriend, no kids. It was just him looking out for number one. He would still like kids though, someone like Finnegan, who was really the only kid he ever saw, so he couldn't really make any kind of real comparison, but he knew that Finnegan was a good, sweet kid, and if he could find the right woman, someday, then maybe he could have that too. It wasn't like he was craving it or anything, but he wasn't getting any younger and he didn't want to waste time dilly-dallying around.

The hours passed as Shane tried to finish all his work. One good thing about being alone was that he didn't have anyone waiting up for him. So he could work until all hours and when he got home, nobody would be sitting up wondering where he was. What Shane didn't realize was that seemed like a very lonely existence rather than a happy thing to notice about one's life. However, Shane had been so career-focused that many things in his life had passed over his head.

The day was turning into night and he could hear most of the other employees leaving, going to the elevators, chatting away about what their plans were for the evening. The night sky flooded into his office, turning it dark so he turned on the lights as he continued to toil away at his craft. He didn't realize how late it was as his eyes flitted over numbers and layouts and budgets and what not. It was all starting to swim a little when there was a knock on his doorframe.

"Shane, what are you still doing here?" Stephanie asked.

"What are _you_ still doing here?" Shane asked. He thought she would've left earlier with Chris and Finnegan.

"Oh, I was working late, had a conference call with some of the other writers," she told him.

"What about Chris and Finn?"

"What about them?" Stephanie asked. "I told them I was working late and they're at home. It's not a big deal."

"But you have a family now."

"Yeah, I've had a family for the past five years, what makes today any more special than any other day?" Stephanie said. "I'm completely capable of juggling my work and my family, I've gotten pretty used to it."

"I know," he said. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost nine o'clock. "Wow, I didn't even realize that I had been here that long. I thought it was earlier."

"Yeah, it's late, have you eaten?" she asked.

"No, I haven't, why?"

"Why don't we go pick up something to eat, my treat," she told him. "Come on Shaners, you have to eat something…"

"Don't you think you should get back to your family?"

"Finny's already in bed," she explained, "and so it's no fun, Chris won't mind, why would he care? He's had long nights too, so come on, Shane, just because I have a family doesn't mean you aren't my family anymore. I have to make sure my big brother is alright."

"Nah, you go ahead, I'm good here."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive, go, go," Shane told her. She shrugged and walked down the hallway towards the elevator. For a brief moment, he was jealous that his sister had someone...a couple of someones to go home to actually. She had that whole package and though it took her a while to get the marriage, she had had the family for years now. How could he not be jealous of that, not for long, just for a second…

Just for one second…


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming, I want reviews! :P

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"I'm worried about Shane."

"Oh, here it comes," Chris groaned.

"Here what comes?" she asked.

"The patented Stephanie McMahon plan of action, the scheming, the thinking, the planning, everything that you claim that you love to do," he explained to her.

"First of all, my name is Stephanie Irvine now, don't you forget it buddy," she said, poking him in the chest playfully. "Second of all, my plans are not lame, and third of all, who even said that I had a plan?"

"Because it's in the McMahon blood, you guys plan and you scheme and you try to make other people miserable, that's just what you guys do. I should know, I've been a part of this family for the past almost seven years."

"It is _not_ in the McMahon blood," Stephanie countered, "Finny doesn't scheme."

"Finn's also a four year old," Chris pointed out. "Besides, look at your brother's lame plan to get us back together."

"That was a lame plan, yeah," Stephanie conceded, "but he had the best of intentions with it. All he wanted was for us to be happy and for Finny to have his parents together. That's the most noblest of intentions."

"That only succeeded in me feeling like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and stomped on repeatedly, so total success," he said, giving her a sarcastic thumbs-up.

Stephanie laughed and took another bite of the hot dog that Chris had made for her to eat, "Yeah, but he still went out of his way to do something nice for us, and we should do something--"

"No Stephanie," Chris told her sternly. "I have learned my lesson trying to help someone in their lives. I'm not going to do it again, the only three people in this world that I give a damn about are in this house right now. I'm not going to interfere and neither are you."

"You're no fun," she said. "You know, seven years ago, you would've helped, what happened to that daring, adventurous man that I dated?"

"He grew up when you sprung a kid on him, so really, when you think about it, this is all your fault," Chris said with a smile as he leaned forward to kiss her and then wipe a little bit of mustard off of her chin. "So if there's anyone to blame here, it's all you."

"It is not," she told him. "You were the one who got me pregnant, so technically…"

"It's both our faults?" he finished and she nodded. "Okay, I concede that I took a part in it, but I'm not taking full responsibility."

"Speaking of responsibilities we weren't ready for, did Finny get to bed okay?"

"Yup, you know how he is, a lot more sensible than either one of us. He wanted to try and wait up for you, but I convinced him that it wasn't a good idea because he'd be very tired tomorrow and then he wouldn't get to go to preschool and that pretty much made him get in bed and go to sleep."

"I'm bummed out that I had to work so late, I hate not being here to tuck him in," she told him and he just squeezed her left hand. "I wasn't the only one left though, Shane was still there when I left, I asked if he wanted to go get dinner with me, but he told me to come home to my family. I felt a little bad."

"Well, next time that you're both working late, insist that you go out, I mean, the guy's gotta eat, doesn't he?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, he does, I don't know though, he sounded kind of bitter when he told me to go to my family, like he wanted a family too, but he had nobody to go home to, it made me sad, which made me worried, which made you think I was coming up with some lame plan."

He laughed, "I know that your intentions are honorable, Steph, I know that, but seriously, we can't interfere in his life, we can't and shouldn't interfere. Like, what if you set him up with some girl and they hit it off and then break up, you're going to feel bad, he's going to feel bad, by extension I'm going to feel bad, and then Finn is going to feel bad and that's never good."

She shook her head as she finished off the last of her French fries, "Yeah, I know, but he's my brother, I can't help it. Maybe we can invite him over to dinner or something, just to get him out of the house. He likes being around Finny, I'm not sure about us, but he definitely likes to be around Finny."

"Hey, maybe we should give him Finn and then let him see what parenthood is really like and then he can be happy about his bachelorhood," Chris joked and Stephanie crossed her arms and glared at him as he laughed to himself.

"You're so mean," she told him, pretending to be angry, but really amused by him. "Are you suggesting that Finny is anything but the best kid in the world? He's made parenthood a joy."

"Yeah, because colicky babies are totally a joy," Chris nodded. "I don't think I got more than two hours of sleep a night for those months. Finn is cool now, but he wasn't exactly the most agreeable baby in the world, if I didn't love him so much, I might've wanted to return him."

"Oh yes and what would we have gotten for him, store credit?" she wondered.

"I wouldn't give him back now, he's totally cool now, my best friend," Chris said as he placed Stephanie's dish in the dishwasher.

"Have you thought about having other ones?" Stephanie asked casually. She wasn't going to suggest they have another kid right this moment, but it was definitely something to think about.

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it has crossed my mind before, I mean, I think it was inevitable given that we have Finn. Why? You want another one?"

"Well, I figured, I've done it the unmarried way, I might as well see what it's like when I am married," she joked. "I don't know honestly, I was just thinking, I'm not suggesting we go out right now and have a kid, I was just wondering."

"Yeah it's crossed my mind," he said, coming back over to her and smiling. "But let's not rush into anything."

"Says the guy who almost ran away when I told him about his first child," she said, hopping off the stool that she had been sitting on. She yawned and hugged Chris's side, letting herself lean into him. "I'm exhausted."

"How does TV in bed sound?" he asked her. She nodded and he kissed her head softly as they went upstairs to have a boring night. "And don't be thinking of ways that you can get Shane together with one of your single friends."

"I wasn't thinking that!" she told him as she hugged him a little bit tighter. "But now I am."

"Stephanie, no…"

"Okay, okay, geez, you'd think that you weren't my husband and you were something like my father or something and that's just creepy."

"That _is_ creepy," he said. "The only person who I'm a father to is my son, thank you very much. Now come on, I want to see you naked."

"No naked fun tonight," she giggled as they went into their bedroom. "Hey, how about we have a barbeque, you've been wanting to fire up the grill and it would be fun."

"I don't know if you've noticed this, babe, but we're still pretty much in the wintertime. So I don't know if firing up the grill would serve the purpose of cooking or melting the snow outside."

"It's not snowy outside," she told him, shaking her head. "Besides, we have a heated patio, and we have a deck and everything and people can eat inside the house. You'd only have to go out there to cook and you wouldn't be freezing to death, I think it would be nice. You know, we could think of it as a thank you to everyone who supported us at our wedding, or came to our wedding. We could invite some of the parents at Finny's preschool, and it'll be fun."

"And it would serve the purpose of you trying to set up Shane, right?"

"It wouldn't be _solely_ for that purpose, no," she conceded that it was a little bit for that purpose. "I honestly think it would be fun. Don't you remember that 'Summer in Winter' party thing my parents had when I was pregnant with Finny?"

"Yeah, but they have an indoor pool, we have nothing of the sort. Our pool is covered up for the winter," he pointed out. "Besides, we had a terrible time at that party, those bitches were harassing you."

"They didn't harass me," she corrected. "They were talking shit behind my back. But that's beside the point. I think it would be fun and it would get Shane around other people. I wouldn't even try to sway him in any direction, but it'd be good for him to spend time away from work."

"It's not your mission to make everyone around you happy, you know?"

"I know that," she said sarcastically. "I just want to help my brother. You don't understand because you don't have a brother, or a sister, or anyone at all. You were a selfish, little boy who only thought of yourself."

"So Finn is a selfish, little boy who only thinks of himself?" Chris challenged her theory.

"No, because Finny is going to have a little brother or sister and he'll be great at that, the whole protecting, united front kind of thing. Well, if he isn't traumatized at the thought of another baby in the house, I don't know, whatever, I'm not having a baby right now. Chris, I'm not asking your opinion on this, I'm telling you that we're going to have a barbeque."

"Why do you do this? You don't even ask me if I want to do something, you just go ahead and plan it without asking me, you know, it's my house too, it's my life too, and I'd like a little bit of say in it."

"See, you would, but as I understand it, once you get married, you give up all your rights to your wife, and then she makes the decisions for the both of you, so I'm only going by the laws of marriage. And to think, _you_ were the one who wanted to marry me all this time."

"Stephanie, just…don't interfere. Look, I know what your brother did for us was…well-intentioned, but the reason we worked things out was because _we _chose to work them out. We chose to talk and figure out where we were. We were the ones who chose to get married. Shane had little to do with it. We made our choices because they were _our_ choices. Don't you think that you owe your brother the same courtesy?"

"I'm not trying to set him up with anyone. I just…I worry about him sometimes…"

Across town, Shane was just opening his door after grabbing some fast food on the way home. He turned on the lights and noted that the house was cold and went immediately for the thermostat. He turned the heat on, hearing it start up and warm up the house. He went over to the kitchen, turning on the light in there and setting his food down on the counter before heading to the refrigerator and grabbing a beer. He twisted the cap off and took a swig of it.

The house was quiet, like it always was and as he grabbed his food and went to go sit on the couch and watch some mindless television, he thought it too quiet. The noise from the television eventually drowned it out, but he just thought it too quiet for that one moment. He sunk into the couch and watched whatever tickled his fancy as he snacked on the burger that he had picked up. He was fine with what he was doing. It was nice after a long day's work to come home and just lounge around and not worry about anything or anyone. He was perfectly content in his bachelorhood. He came and went as he pleased and that suited him just fine.

Or it would if he actually believed himself.


	3. Chapter 3

"What did you bring?"

"I brought you some potato salad."

"Oh my God, Shane, do not even tell me that you made this," Stephanie said, looking at the bowl of potato salad in her brother's hands. "Because if you did, I'm totally going to need a picture of this because it _has_ to be a first."

Shane rolled his eyes, "I know how to cook you know. Or at the very least, I can follow a recipe. So here you go, and it's edible, I tried it. I thought it would be nice to bring something since you invited me to this little get-together that you're having."

"You're family, of course you were invited, Mom and Dad were invited, and Chris's dad actually came down too, he was bored up in Canada, he's actually thinking about moving down here, crazy," Stephanie said as she ushered him in. "Nobody's really here yet since you're a couple hours early, but once everyone shows up, you know, feel free to talk to people, mingle."

"I'll talk to whoever I see fit, Stephanie, thanks," Shane told her sardonically.

"I'm just saying," she told him, rolling her eyes. "I'm helping Chris in the kitchen, if you want to help to, you're welcome to. Trish and Ron are here though, around somewhere, they're staying here, and then you know, there are a couple people here, but do whatever you want, you know your way around."

"Yeah, I know my way around just fine," Shane said as he watched his sister walk off with his potato salad in her hands. She walked over to the kitchen and set it down with the rest of the food they were preparing.

"You would not believe what my brother just brought," Stephanie said as Chris walked in from their walk-in pantry.

"A girlfriend so you can get off his back?" Chris asked as he set down the buns he had just retrieved on the counter. "Because if he did, let me be the first one to warn him that he could be stuck with this woman for the rest of his life like I was stuck with you for the rest of ours."

"Well, you wouldn't be if you hadn't gotten me pregnant, so once again, blame the condom company."

"I did call them to complain about lack of efficiency," Chris told her. "So what did your brother bring because I'm starting to think it's not a girl."

"Potato salad, my brother, Shane McMahon, the self-proclaimed…I don't know, made us potato salad."

"Cool, that's nice of him," Chris said as he went back to making hamburger patties.

"You don't have anything to say about that?"

"Stephanie, I don't have an opinion on everything, I'm not even behind this little plan you have to get your brother a girl, so I'm definitely not behind the potato salad other than the fact I'm eager to see if it's good."

"You're just a spoilsport is what you are."

Shane stood in the foyer and looked around. There wasn't much going on around here. There were some people on the heated patio, and then he saw his mom and dad and didn't want to speak with them so he was kind of stuck. He heard the television going off in another room and followed it all the way to Finnegan's play room where he was watching a video enraptured, his little body settled deep into the cushions.

"Hey Finn."

"Hi Uncle Shane," he droned as he kept his eyes on the television and the video playing on it.

"What are you watching?" Shane asked.

"_Lady and the Tramp_," Finnegan answered idly as he continued to watch it.

"Can I watch with you?"

"Uh huh," Finnegan said as he scooted over a little bit to let Shane sit next to him. "It's almost over though, because the mean rat is going to try to hurt the baby, but then the doggies are going to save it, like Cray would save the baby if we had a baby, but we don't."

"Oh, I see," Shane said as he watched his nephew. "Are any of your friends coming over today?"

"Uh huh!" Finnegan said, perking up and looking to Shane, ignoring the movie he had just been engrossed in. "My friend Richard is coming over, and my friend Sam, and then my friend Amanda, but she's a girl, but she's not my girlfriend, even though Daddy says that she is, but Daddy is just mean about that."

"Oh, sounds like it, she's just a friend, huh?"

"Uh huh, but Daddy said that she likes me, but I don't think so."

How sad would it be if his nephew, his four-year old nephew who was in preschool, had a girlfriend and he didn't? He couldn't think of many things that would be sadder than that, if that occurred. He hoped he would get a girlfriend before his nephew did, that would definitely be a plus if he had more game than a four-year old. Of course, it was probably easier to meet a girl when you were four years old.

"Yeah, you shouldn't listen to your Daddy about that."

"Okay," Finnegan said. "Mommy said that I can have a hamburger for lunch and have cheese on it, are you going to have a hamburger too?"

"Yeah, I probably will," Shane said, then looked at the television. "Oh, your movie is over, that's too bad."

"It's okay, I'm going to color until my friends get here," Finnegan said, hopping off the couch and going to his table where he sat down and started to color in a coloring book that was sitting there. "When Richard gets here, we're going to go play with my wrestling toys, I get to be Daddy."

"Who does Richard get to be?"

"He can be whoever he wants," Finnegan said. "Do you want to color with me, Uncle Shane?"

"Really?"

"Sure!" he said brightly.

Shane squeezed his butt on one of the tiny chairs that was at Finnegan's table, lamenting the fact that Stephanie had gotten him a pint-sized table and not an actual adult table, although Finnegan was a little kid so it made sense. Shane grabbed a coloring book and started coloring with his nephew, who would look over at his pictures every now and again.

"You're good, Uncle Shane," Finnegan complimented him.

"Thanks," Shane responded.

"Shane, what are you doing in here?" Stephanie asked as she walked past the room, briefly checking on Finnegan.

"I just wanted to hang out with my nephew, is that a crime?" he wondered. Stephanie sighed and looked at the two of them, laughing a little.

"Don't you think that chair is a little small?"

"I'm managing," he told her, going back to his coloring.

"There are other people here you know?"

"I know, and none of them are as cool as my nephew, and we're fine, aren't we, Finn?"

"Yeah, we're fine, Mommy," Finnegan answered as he looked up at her with a smile.

"Okay, but I know that Richard and Sam are going to be here soon, and Amanda is already here if you want to see her, she's with her Mommy and Daddy in the living room. Don't you think that it would be nice if you were to go say hi to her?"

"No," Finnegan said. "Daddy will just make fun of me."

"Daddy's outside, he won't even see you with her," Stephanie said. "And if Daddy wants to tease you, then I'll hit him for you. Then you can kick him in the shin if you want to, how does that sound?"

"If he doesn't want to go, don't make him, Steph," Shane intervened.

"I'm sorry, did I just walk into the 'We Hate Girls' Club?" Stephanie asked, sending a look towards her brother for also being antisocial and holing himself up in here with his nephew. No wonder he didn't have a girlfriend if he wasn't even willing to go out and look. Instead he was closing himself off from everyone except his family, and that made her sad.

"Yeah, you did," Shane said, "Come on, let's keep coloring, Finn."

"Okay," Finnegan said, going back to his coloring.

"Mark my words, you two, the both of you are going to come out of here sooner or later, and it's going to be sooner, remember that," she told them as she wandered off again.

Shane turned to Finnegan and held up his hand. "Give me a high five, Finn, for getting rid of your mommy."

Finnegan gave him a high five before going back to his coloring, furiously sweeping his hand across the page. Shane watched him for a second. It was okay for a four year old not to like girls, but Shane didn't have an excuse. He was just never good with this dating thing. His work had always come first and that he put off every girl that he had ever been with. The long nights, the traveling, it didn't really add up to finding a woman who wanted to stay with him.

There had been one woman who he thought would stick around. Her name had been Kimberly and they had actually gotten engaged. That had lasted for a couple months before she had left him, stating that she couldn't take a backseat to his work any longer. They had been together for a couple years at that point, and while it had left him pretty upset for a while, he had eventually gotten over her.

But by that time, he had already immersed himself in his work and found that she was a nicer mistress than having a woman in his life who didn't understand his commitments. His sister was lucky to find someone as busy as she was, and if Shane could find someone who understood his other life, his work life, then he would be set. But this woman had yet to come along. She had yet to show up and he wondered if she ever would. He and Kimberly had dated a long, long time ago, over a decade ago actually, and though he had had some girlfriends over this time, they had all left him for greener pastures and better guys.

"Shane?"

Shane looked up and saw Trish standing there, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I was just coloring with Finn."

"Sounds like fun," Trish said, coming over and sitting down at the little table. "Hey Finn, what are you coloring?"

"Fish," Finnegan said.

"Where's Cray?" she asked.

"Mommy said that he had to stay in the garage because he's not supposed to be around other people yet because he's just a baby," Finnegan explained.

"Oh, sounds smart," Trish said.

"Where's your husband?" Shane asked.

Trish sighed, "Talking shop with one of Stephanie's friend's husbands. It bored me to tears so I decided to come see what was going on in other parts of the house. I actually thought that this room might be unoccupied so that I could just watch some television or something."

"Oh, not having fun?"

"It's not that," Trish said. "I'm just tired from the plane trip, don't feel like talking to people. So I guess I'll just hang out with you two."

"Hey Finn! Richard and Sam are here!" Stephanie yelled from the front door. Finnegan perked up now that his friends were here and they could go play wrestling in the living room.

"Bye Uncle Shane, bye Trish," Finnegan said as he ran from the room, tearing out of there like a bat out of hell. Shane and Trish laughed at him as they were alone now. Trish got up and sat on the couch, turning the television on as Shane followed suit.

"Well, I guess it's just us then," Shane said as he sat down.

"So why aren't you out there?"

"Because I find Finn way more exciting than anyone I could meet out there," Shane said. "Besides, it's all of Stephanie's friends, not mine and I'd feel kind of awkward around them."

"Oh come on, you?" she scoffed. "You're Shane McMahon, you're a good-looking guy, you could have any of those women out there, easy."

"Oh come on, now you're just flattering me," Shane laughed. "I'm fine sitting in here with you. I don't really want to go out there. I don't know, I'm not feeling very social right now, and if I'm not feeling social, I shouldn't be social."

"It would be good if you got yourself a girlfriend or something though," Trish said. "Stephanie's mentioned that you haven't had one in a while. I'm not saying it's essential to life or anything, but you know, it might be nice to have someone care about you."

"I have plenty of people who care about me," he protested.

"I know, but in a different way. Look, you were so adamant about getting Stephanie and Chris back together when they broke up that we kind of want to be adamant about seeing you happy. It's a two-way street, Shane, we all just want everyone else to be happy and content with their lives, and you're the same way."

"So you're saying you think my sister is trying to get payback on me for trying to meddle in her life?"

"That could be it, yes," Trish answered. "You didn't really help them get back together though, so you know, they might not help you and you could have someone pop up in the middle of nowhere and bam, there's your soulmate."

"If only it were that easy."

"It could be, now if you'll excuse me, I think there's a cheeseburger that's got my name on it, and yes, I'm going to totally try some of your potato salad, I don't think that I could just leave that alone without trying it, you cooking is just something I have to see for myself."

"Enjoy it," he called after her as she left the room. He thought to what Trish had said. It was easier said than done though when it came to women. Sure, he could charm their pants off, but sustaining a relationship was key, and he had never quite mastered that aspect of dating. Regardless, he got off the couch, turned off the television and walked back out to the party, where everyone was talking with each other and laughing, Finnegan running around with his friends, one of Stephanie's friends showing off their new baby.

He sat down on a chair and watched everything go by. Trish was sitting next to her husband, listening in on something he was saying, her chin on his shoulder. Stephanie was standing next to Chris as he grilled the food, her arms wrapped around his waist as she spoke to him animatedly. He kept nodding at her and she nudged him in the side and he glared at her playfully.

"You _must_ be Shane McMahon."

"Huh?" he asked the woman who had just sat down next to him. She was a dirty blonde, her hair pulled back with a couple of clips and she had green eyes and a tan complexion that made her almost look exotic, but still somehow very girl-next-door.

"I'm sorry, look at me, acting stupid, I'm Rebecca, Becca, I'm a friend of Stephanie's, she's mentioned you before, and you look so much like her, I just assumed that you were Shane, I shouldn't have done that."

"I am Shane, nice to meet you, Becca," he said, shaking her hand.

"I'm actually Richard's mom, you might recognize him as the flash of blonde hair running around with Finn."

"Oh yeah, Finn was talking about him, they're friends."

"Yeah, they are, very rambunctious when they're together, it's cute," Rebecca said with a laugh. "Also when they're together, I don't really have to watch them since they can be occupied pretty easily."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, motherhood, can't beat it, especially when you do it alone for most of the time," she told him.

"Divorced?"

"Caught me," she shrugged. "It was mutual, no hard feelings, just weren't right for each other. We can't all work out, life wouldn't be fun that way. But I got Richie out of it, so you know, I think it was a fair trade-off, broken marriage for a sweet, little boy, I'd take it any day."

"I probably would too," he said. "So you're single then?"

"Very much so, too much so," she said. "I don't know, it's hard when you have a kid and all. Do you have kids? I don't think Stephanie mentioned that."

"No, no kids, never even been married."

"Lucky," she said with a wink. "No, I'm kidding, marriage can be fun if you find the right person, seriously, I'm not going to try to scare you away or anything. It just wasn't for me and my husband, but you know, don't take me as an example."

He cracked a genuine smile, "Okay, I won't hold it against you for trying to turn me off of marriage."

"Oh good, I would hate for that to happen, but you're only like, what, thirty-five, still plenty of time left…is my foot sufficiently in my mouth yet?"

"No, I'm actually thirty-eight, so you know, kind of getting up there."

"Oh, no, no, you're not, don't say that. Getting married young is not all it's cracked up to be, I got married when I was twenty, and seriously, bad decision, it just…I'm so sorry, I'm rambling and bothering you, and you came here for good food and to spend time with your family."

"No, really, you're not bothering me, you actually kind of…you fascinate me."

"Oh wow, like a zoo animal?" she asked.

"No, not like a zoo animal," he laughed. "Is it not okay to be fascinated with someone?"

"No, I've just never been fascinating a day in my life, you must not get out much."

"When you work as much as I do, you don't really," he told her, wondering if that would scare her off, but she seemed a bold person and he liked that. He found himself instantly attracted to that.

"Oh, so you're one of those, then?"

"One of what?"

"The guys that work, that's a good thing, having a job, very good thing."

"Are you free tomorrow night?"

"I can make myself free," she answered.

"Good, do that, I want to see you again."

"Oh well now _that_ I find fascinating."


	4. Chapter 4

"So how sad are you that you have to come over to your sister's house to get ready for your date?"

"I'm ready for the date."

"Yeah, but still, you're over here for moral support. Don't you have any other friends, I mean, are you seriously _that_ into work that you have to resort to us?" Chris asked as he lounged on the couch with his brother-in-law.

"Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that we were friends before you ever got with my sister," Shane told him.

"Yeah, we were, but the second that I asked your sister out, we forfeited that relationship and ever since then, I'm just known as your sister's boyfriend, then your sister's husband."

"Don't forget the guy who knocked up my sister, I think that was my favorite one. I mean, how much easier does it get to explain than that?" Shane said sarcastically, to which Chris flipped him off. "Wow, I'm starting to rethink this entire blessing thing I have going for the two of you."

"Good," Chris said. "Maybe that'll make you leave."

"You don't want me to leave," Shane said, patting his shoulder. "Where's Stephanie, anyways? I thought she'd be around."

"She is around, but she's mad at me, so she's avoiding me," Chris told him. "So since she's mad at me, she won't come to see you until I'm out of the room. I know her way too well."

"You guys are in a fight?"

"Yeah, we're in a fight."

"I just saw you guys yesterday at the barbeque and now you're in a fight, how the hell did that happen?"

"You've met your sister, right? Every little thing sets her off."

"It does not!" Stephanie said, walking into the room. "Don't even try to pin this one on me, okay? Don't even do that."

"Oh, look who's graced us with her presence?" Chris said, turning to Shane. "The Ice Queen has arrived. If you'll excuse me, I don't like the reception in here, it's too chilly for my tastes. Good luck on your date, man."

"Yeah, thanks," Shane said as Chris walked out of the room, throwing a dirty look at Stephanie, who returned it with a sneer of her own. She scoffed to herself when Chris walked out of the room and plopped herself down on the couch as Chris left.

"God, I hate him sometimes."

"What happened?"

"He's just a jerk, don't worry about it," Stephanie said. "I don't even want to talk about it right now, he's just being an ass about something and I'm sick and tired of fighting with him about it."

"Well, at least I know it's not because you said no to his proposal."

"Oh," Stephanie said, mock-laughing. "Is that supposed to be funny, Shane? What are you doing here anyways, aren't you supposed to be picking up Becca soon or something?"

"I've got a little while," Shane said.

Stephanie looked at her brother and could see that he looked a little nervous. It was a little weird to see her big brother nervous at something. For so many years, she had looked up to him, and he had never seemed afraid of anything. That was just the eyes of a little girl though, and as she grew into adulthood, she saw the real Shane, who had faults and fears, and everything that she never when she was growing up in his imposing shadow. He was nervous for his date later, and it just brought up the fact that her brother wasn't a superhero.

She remembered her own nervousness when she had been preparing for her date with Trish's brother-in-law. She hadn't been on a date, a real live, first date in almost seven years at that point, and it was terrifying. While Shane hadn't gone nearly that long, it had been a while and it was very intimidating. She had had Finnegan there with her to prepare, and now Shane needed his sister there to prepare.

"It'll be fun, and even if it's not, it gets you out of the house for the night," Stephanie told him. "But I know Becca, and she's really funny and nice."

"She seemed it yesterday," Shane nodded. "And she's pretty too, big plus."

"She does have a son though, how do you feel about that?"

"I'm cool with it," Shane said. "Kids don't really scare me." Stephanie looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Shane had limited experience with children and that limited experience was all wrapped up into her son.

"You've only ever been around Finny," Stephanie pointed out.

"Yeah, and Finn is a great kid," Shane replied. "I mean, they can't all be bad right? I know that Finn might be the exception to the rule, but I think I can handle the situation. He's Finn's age, and I know how to deal with Finn."

"Every kid is different. Becca is pretty devoted to Richie, so I'm just giving you a fair warning that he does come first in her life, as it should be. He's a good kid, Finny and him get along, so I guess it shouldn't be too much of a stretch, but Finny is a pretty likeable kid."

"I know," Shane said. "Where is he?"

"Actually, we're babysitting Richie while you and Becca go out, they're in the playroom right now playing with their cars," Stephanie said. "That's where I was when you came in, and that's probably where my jerk-off of a husband is right now, no doubt joining right in like the two-year-old that he is."

"Okay, you seriously have to tell me what you're fighting about," Shane said.

Stephanie looked at her watch. "Don't you think that you should get going though, I don't think you're giving yourself enough time, and I know that being fashionably late is the 'in' thing, but I don't think it makes the best first impression if you show up late."

"I'll go then, geez," Shane said, looking at her. "What if I act like a complete loser?"

"You won't," she reassured him. "You're a great guy, Shane. Any girl would be lucky to have you, you're a great big brother, and you're a great uncle. You know that you're great, don't let this thing intimidate you. It's not going to be like Kimber-bitch."

Shane laughed, "Thanks, I needed that. So when you went on a date with that guy while you were broken up with Chris, it really wasn't that bad?"

"No, it wasn't," Stephanie said.

"I should've let him take you then," Chris said as he walked through the living room to get to the kitchen. "It would've been easier to get you off my hands if I had just let you run off with him."

"Okay Irvine, come on, you want to fight me, fight me," Stephanie said, standing up and facing her husband. "You want to talk behind my back and make snide, little comments to me, then go right ahead, bring it on."

"Fine McMahon--"

"Irvine," she corrected smartly.

Chris rolled his eyes, "I'm the one that gave you that name, and let you take it, I can call you McMahon if I want to. First of all, I don't want to wear my wedding ring, and that's just how I feel, now you can either accept that or do nothing, either way."

"I don't see why you can't wear it!" Stephanie shouted.

"You don't wear yours!" Chris shouted back. "If you don't wear yours, I don't see why I have to wear mine, it bugs me because I'm not used to it."

"Well, it's different for the guy, I wear my engagement ring," Stephanie told him. "I don't see what the big deal is about wearing your wedding ring. I wear my wedding ring on my necklace so at least it is on my person somewhere." She pulled out the necklace from around her neck, which did indeed hold her wedding ring, and also the pendant that Chris had given her when Finnegan was born.

"So, that's not on your finger," Chris told her. "Stephanie, I don't see the big deal. You don't wear yours, I don't wear mine, it's the same thing. I don't think that it matters either way."

"You're wrong," Stephanie shrugged. "You're just wrong."

"Okay, lovebirds, I'm leaving," Shane said, rushing out of there before they started a slapping fight. He didn't need any more tension in his body right now. He already had butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. He arrived at the address that Rebecca had written down for him yesterday and looked up to a nice, two-level house on a quiet street. He got out with the flowers that he had picked up for her and walked towards the door.

"So this place is nice," Rebecca said as she looked around, sitting as Shane pulled the chair out for her. "But then, things are bound to be nice when you aren't at a place that has a ball pit or video games."

Shane laughed, "I think that there's a Pac-Man machine near the bathroom."

"Oh, well then, I'm going to have to get in a game before we leave," she told him with a wink. "So Shane McMahon, I know that you work for your dad, like Stephanie does, but what exactly do you do?"

"I do a lot more of the media and online stuff, you know, making sure that the website is running smoothly, a lot of stuff with the commercials we put out. So Stephanie has the writing stuff, and I have the visual stuff."

"That sounds interesting, and you get to travel all over the place, that must be so much fun."

"Well, it's actually more boring than fun."

"No, don't ruin it for me. I want to keep the illusion that you're a jet-setter. I haven't been out of the Eastern Seaboard, I've only been on a plane a couple of times, it's all so very depressing. I was going to go backpacking through Europe, you know, like every other college student who ever lived, but my marriage and Richie kind of derailed those plans so I've been around here ever since."

"The world isn't all it's cracked up to be, let me tell you," Shane told her. "It's a little overrated."

"Well now you're just trying to make me feel better."

"A little," Shane told her and she smiled at him, reaching across the table to grasp her hand. "So…uh, what do you do?"

"District manager at a software company, sounds glamorous, huh?"

"Nobody's work is glamorous unless you're a movie star, and even then, it's not so much fun because you get ripped on by the media and what not."

"True," she said. "It pays the bills and the hours are reasonable. It's hard to take care of Richie full-time. His dad doesn't live around here, up in New York, so it's not too far, but I get the brunt of the work, and he's only a four-year-old, and you've been around Finn, you know how that can be."

"Yeah, Finn is an energetic little kid, so I know how that is."

"Richie's good though, he's sweet, and he keeps me smiling, so whatever work I have to do for him, I don't mind, since it's all for him anyways."

"He's lucky to have someone like you for a mom."

"I'm lucky to have someone like him for a son, he keeps me young, or that's what I tell myself whenever I find a new wrinkle on my face, a very scary discovery each and every time."

"I don't see wrinkles, you must look with a magnifying glass."

"Wow, looks and charm, a lethal combination, let's make sure that I don't fall into bed with you at the end of tonight, shall we?" she joked with him. Shane found himself having a really good time with her. She had a quick wit, and she was intelligent, and he found that so attractive in a woman. He hadn't expected it to be this easy, but Stephanie was right, once you got into the groove of it, everything seemed to fall into place.

"I'd never take advantage of someone," Shane told her. "Especially not one of my sister's friends. To you she may seem like this really good friend and a really nice person, but trust me, my sister has a temper, and she's not afraid to use it. She's pretty scary."

"Oh, not sweet Stephanie Irvine, no way," Becca said, pretending to be shocked. "Okay, question, now, Stephanie says that Finn has been traveling since he was in diapers, but that can't be true right, I mean, I know he travels now, but how long has she been bringing him on the road?"

"Since he was six weeks old," Shane answered, which genuinely shocked his date. "Yeah, see, when Stephanie got pregnant, she had just gotten promoted to the head of creative, and she was scared that if she didn't come back, someone would get her job and steal it from her, so she came back. Finn traveled with her the entire time, it's really all he knows."

"Wow, I really had no idea," she said, a little more soberly this time. "Your family is really complicated, isn't it?"

"Don't let them scare you," Shane said. "My parents can be scary, so can Stephanie, but we're a good bunch."

"Yeah, I kind of like the McMahon in front of me right now," she said coyly. Shane just smiled and went to sip his wine.

Dating was easy, he found, and he was shocked by the revelation. Maybe his ex-fiancée had been a bitch like he sister said she was. Rebecca was easy to talk to and she was interesting, even if she didn't think she was. Shane found himself more intrigued by her as the night went on. He almost didn't want the night to end at all, but he wasn't going to take advantage of her or blow it. He didn't want to blow it with someone who he finally felt like he could relate to.

"Did you want me to drive you to Stephanie and Chris's house to pick up Richie?" Shane asked as they were in the car.

"Oh, no, he's going to spending the night with them, Stephanie said it was cool."

"Sounds like a good time, you get the night all to yourself," he told her. He didn't realize the implications of his words until they were standing in front of the doorway. He held her hand and said, "So what are you doing next week?"

"What are _you_ doing tonight?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I don't usually act like such a slut, but do you want to come inside?"

"I'm supposed to make sure that you don't do something stupid tonight, remember what we said at dinner?" he whispered, even as he was leaning in closer to her.

"Well, I don't remember what was said, do you?" she said, feigning innocence. Shane could tell that if he wanted, she would invite him inside, and something could happen. And though he had only been on one date with her, the thought was certainly intriguing enough to take. He could play the gentleman and tell her that they should wait, or he could play the cad and take her into her house and upstairs right now. He was weighing both options when she leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips, chaste at first until he got into it a little bit more, pulling her closer.

Tonight, he would play the cad.


	5. Chapter 5

"So how did it go, big brother?"

Shane looked up into the doorway of his office where his little sister was leaning against the doorframe, a little smirk on her face. That smirk was inscrutable, even though he had seen it many, many times, every single time she smirked, he could never quite figure out what was behind it. She folded her arms in front of her, her right hand holding some files.

"What's it to you?"

"I just want to know, I mean, I could probably go to Becca and find out, but I thought I would find out from the real desperate person in this equation."

"You love me so much, don't you?" he said, cocking his head to the side.

"You know I do," she said with a bright smile. "When Becca came to pick up Richie, she definitely looked happy, so I'm guessing it went well, but we didn't have time to discus it, I was hoping that I could get the dirt from you."

"Where's Chris?" Shane asked, even though he knew where he was exactly.

"I'm guessing he's somewhere in Atlanta where the show is tonight. And before you ask, Dad had a meeting that he wanted me to take for him, so that's why I'm here and not in Atlanta with Chris."

"Wait, why do _you_ get to take a meeting and not me, I'm older than you are, I should be taking meetings."

"You have a meeting, with sponsors, that's why I'm taking Dad's meeting," she said, giving him a look. "I would much rather be in Atlanta, thanks. But this is the kind of sacrifice I make for this company…so come on, your little sister needs the dirt, how did it go?"

Shane didn't want to start gushing like he was a high-schooler, but he had to admit that it was a good time. That was aided by the fact that he had gotten laid, so that helped in his decision that it was a good night. Not that he was going to kiss and tell, that wasn't the way he did things, but he could think about what had happened between him and Rebecca. Stephanie noticed the smile creeping onto her brother's face and she smiled herself, but hers was a more self-satisfied smile.

"I knew it," Stephanie told him. "I knew that you two would hit it off, and you were actually worried that it was going to go badly."

"I don't remember telling you that," Shane told her, his brow furrowing. "When did I ever tell you that I thought it was going to go badly?"

"I'm your sister, I know what your faces mean, and you were nervous before the date, and I knew that you shouldn't be. Just because that bitch you were with before treated you like shit doesn't mean all women are going to do that to you."

"Thanks for the pep talk," he said drolly. "It was a good date, I'm actually going to see her on Wednesday. We're going to take Richie out to dinner."

"Oh, you're going to take Richie out to dinner," Stephanie teased. "Sounds like this could become something…"

"You know, you're really annoying when Chris isn't around, I just thought I would let you know," Shane said. "When's he coming back again?"

"Tomorrow," she told him sarcastically. "It's bad enough that he's at work, you don't have to rub it in. I miss him enough as it is."

"I thought you two were in a fight."

"When aren't we in a fight?" she asked. "We got over it, like we usually do. He's not going to wear his wedding ring and I'm not going to care, it's as simple as that."

"Wow, so you gave in?"

"I didn't give in, I just realized that it's not worth getting in a fight over. It's a ring for God's sakes, it's not like it makes us not married," she said. "So it's just me and Finny for the night, except that Trish is still in town, so she's staying with us."

"And Ron?" Shane asked.

"He had to go back for business, but Trish wanted to stay since we don't see each other often enough with me working all the time, and she's in Toronto, so we're going to head out to dinner, and I want you to join us."

"So that I can get bombarded by questions?" Shane said. "You just want to get me alone so you can interrogate me because you want to know everything about my date with Becca. I'm not going to talk."

She put her hand over her heart, "I'm insulted, truly. That's _not _why I wanted you to come to dinner. I wanted you to come to dinner so you wouldn't have to eat alone, because I know you, Shane, you sit here and work later than anyone, and you're the last person here, and I don't like that. So come on, you like Finny at least, and he'll be there."

"Where is he now?"

"I haven't picked him up from school yet," Stephanie said. She looked at her watch. "He doesn't get out for another forty minutes, so say you'll come out to dinner with us. You get to have dinner with two beautiful women and a cute kid."

"Yeah, two beautiful women, one of whom is my sister, the other of whom is married," Shane said. "And how do you know that I don't have plans tonight, maybe even plans with Becca?"

"I don't know, do you?" she asked.

"No," he said sheepishly and she laughed. He shook his head and sighed. Sometimes Stephanie seemed like the older sibling, looking and watching out for her younger sibling. Maybe because she was married with a child she felt that she was more mature and farther along on this path we called life, but he knew she only meant well. "Fine, fine, I know I'm going to have no way to get out of this one, so I'll go to dinner with you and Trish."

"And Finny, don't forget Finny," she pointed out.

"Like I could ever."

"I better go pick him up though, I wouldn't want him to be waiting there all by his lonesome, even though I have tons of work to do…just lots and lots of work to do."

"You want me to go pick up Finn, don't you?" Shane said, knowing the answer already. Her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.

"Only if you're not busy, if you're busy, then don't worry about it," she told him. "Are you busy, because I'm super busy."

"I'm not busy, I can go pick him up, I might even be able to see Becca if I go, so it's okay with me, but you own me, Irvine," he told her, standing up and poking her in the shoulder. "I'm not your little errand boy."

"I know, but I like to think you are," she said, giving him a quick hug in thanks.

He snatched his car keys from the top of his desk and followed his sister out of his office as they both got on the elevator. She took the elevator going up while he took one going down. He was looking forward to seeing Rebecca again. He had enjoyed being with her and he was looking forward to seeing her again in the near future. She was funny and sweet. There was just one more hurdle that he had to get over.

He was leaning against his car waiting for Finnegan when he spotted her. Her eyes lit up and she walked over. He went to lean in for a kiss on the cheek, but he didn't know if they should do that in public, so he kind of leaned in but then pulled away, just as she was leaning in. She laughed and went to lean in, but then he leaned in and they bumped noses, causing both of them to laugh so he just kissed her on the cheek instead.

"Okay, we'll get better at that, I hope," Rebecca said. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Stephanie's busy at the office so I told her that I'd pick up Finn today," he explained, then added, "plus it had the added bonus of getting to see you so it really was a no-brainer."

She smiled demurely and slugged him in the shoulder. "You're too sweet, trying to make picking up your nephew look like a reason to flirt with me, what would your sister say?"

"I think she'd be glad that I wouldn't be hanging around her anymore," he said, "It's good to see you though, are you doing anything this weekend?"

"Nothing that I can think of, are you asking me out?" she wondered coyly.

"I was thinking that I would, yeah, is that a problem?"

"No, no problem," she told him. She took his hand in hers and laced their fingers together. "I would really like to see you this weekend…but do you think that we can make it a little bit of a larger crowd. I'd really like for you to formally meet Richie."

"Yeah, are you sure?"

"Well, he knows who you are anyways, you're Finn's uncle, but I would like him to know you in this other capacity, but if you're not up for it, I would understand. I just think the sooner its done the better, because regardless of how long you're sticking around, I don't like the idea of hiding anything from my son."

"No, I completely get what you're saying and if you want, sure, bring him along, we can do some kid-friendly stuff. I'll ask my sister what Finn likes to do and she has insight, she's got a kid, yeah, I'll figure something out."

"Great," she said, just as kids started to trickle out of the building. Rebecca pulled her hands away from Shane and smiled. "Well, I'm going to go get Richie, so you can get Finn, and I'll see you later, call me, okay?"

"You bet I am, hold me to that," he smiled as she walked away. Shane watched her hips swinging and almost forgot why he was there in the first place, until he saw Finnegan walking out of the door and looking around pensively for his mother. He looked a little lost until he saw Shane and he ran over and hugged his legs.

"Uncle Shane, what are you doing here!" Finnegan asked exuberantly.

"Well, your mom was busy doing paperwork, so she asked if I could come pick you up, and since you're my most favorite nephew, of course I came to pick you up."

"Oh," Finnegan said. "Did Grandpa give Mommy lots of work to do?"

"I think so, and since your daddy is on the road tonight, I think that she wanted someone she could trust to pick you up, but guess what?"

"What?" he asked, his eyes widening in anticipation.

"I'm going to go out to dinner with your mom and Trish tonight. I couldn't let you be the only boy there, that wouldn't be much fun, so I'll be there to keep you company while your mommy and Trish talk girl talk."

"Yuck, girl talk is gross, right Uncle Shane?"

"Yeah, it's totally gross," he said, lifting him into the car before they drove back to Titan. Finnegan talked the entire time there, outlining everything that he had done today, from taking a nap, to eating a salad and macaroni and cheese for lunch, to the drawing they had done after lunch. He went into excruciating detail, but Shane listened obediently and nodded.

"I want to go talk to Mommy!" Finnegan announced as they got out of the car at Titan. "Is that okay Uncle Shane?"

"Of course it's okay," he told him.

"Okay!" Finnegan yelled, running into the building, pushing the door open by himself. Now Shane knew just why he always saw Finnegan running around Titan. This four year old knew the building better than some of the people that worked there, but still, Stephanie would hate it if she left him alone.

"Finn, wait up!" Shane called after him.

Finnegan, though, was running into the main lobby of the building. He passed by the security desk and yelled, "Hi Dave!"

Dave, the security guy who worked in the afternoons stepped in front of Finnegan before he could run off completely and crouched down to face him. Finnegan gave him a grin and Dave, a large guy, an ex-bodyguard, looked down at the little boy. "Did I give you clearance to come in, young man?"

"No," Finnegan shook his head.

"Do I know you?" he asked playfully.

Finnegan nodded. "Uh huh, Dave, because you work in the safe 'partment, I know because my daddy told me that's what you do."

"I work in the security department," he corrected. "And I don't see your badge."

"I don't have a badge," Finnegan said, suddenly stricken. "Mommy didn't give me one!"

"Well, one of these days, you're going to have to get one, I can't have you getting past security without anyone knowing who you are," he joked.

"But they know, they know!" Finnegan exclaimed. "My mommy is Stephanie McMahon, she's very smart and she works here."

Shane finally caught up with Finnegan after getting caught up with one of the accountants who needed to speak with him on some budgetary concerns. He walked up to Finnegan who was talking amicably with the head of daytime security, since Finnegan knew pretty much everyone there. He walked up and patted Finnegan on the head.

"Thanks for slowing him down, Dave."

"It's not a problem, Mr. McMahon," Dave told him, "I do it all the time for Stephanie. He's always running in here, and she can never keep up."

Shane laughed, "Yeah, he's like Speedy Gonzales."

"Uncle Shane, Dave says I need a badge," Finnegan told him, looking up at his uncle. "Where do I get one?"

"We'll see about getting you one," Shane said. "But let's go see your mommy, I bet she wants to see you and hear all about your day. But wait up for me this time, I can't keep up with you."

"Okay, Uncle Shane," Finnegan said, taking his hand as they walked to the elevators. Shane let Finnegan push the button to Stephanie's floor and they watched as the numbers went up and up and up until they got to Stephanie's floor. Finnegan bounded off the elevator and to the office that he knew so well since he had been going there since he was a baby. Stephanie had actually acquired a bigger office just so part of it could be Finnegan's nursery when he was a baby. Now it was more of a play area for him since he spent every other day at the office with Stephanie.

"Mommy!" Finnegan called out as he walked inside.

"Hey Finn," Trish said, standing up from the couch where she had been sitting. "Oh, hey Shane," she added brightly.

"Hey," he said. "Where's my sister?"

"Your dad called her up to his office, some emergency he needed her help with, I think it had to do with some sponsor or something, I wasn't paying attention, she shouldn't be long," she said as Finnegan walked over to the table that Stephanie had set up for him as he started to read through some of the books. Shane sat down on the couch as Trish sat down with him. "So I hear that you had a good time on your date, that's really great."

"Thanks, it's nice, I'm just glad to have someone, you know, it's new."

"Yeah, I can get behind that," Trish said, patting him on the knee.

"So how long are you staying with Steph and Chris?"

"I don't know, however long," she shrugged. "I don't think Ron is clamoring for me to be back home, so I can stay as long as I want."

"Is he busy with work?" Shane asked.

"I guess," she said, then rolled her eyes at herself. "Look at me, I sound mean about it, I guess he's busy at work, we don't really talk about his work that much, so I wouldn't know. I guess we don't talk about much of anything these days."

"Do you want to talk about it with me?" he asked.

"No, really, it's okay," Trish said. "It's nothing really, I'm just being…I'm just making everything seem overblown. It's fine, everything is fine, we're doing really well."

Shane wasn't really convinced, but he didn't press the issue. He knew when people were not fine, and Trish was not fine. But who was he to try and interfere in her life? He was her friend, sure, but he didn't want to overstep his friendship with her. Instead, he just patted her on the shoulder and slowly wrapped his arm around her. She sighed and gave him a thankful look, not needing words, just happy that she didn't have to talk to have someone comfort her.

"You know, if you ever--" he started.

"Shh, let's just sit."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hopefully somebody actually reads this and enjoys it. If you do, leave a review. :P

* * *

"_I'm going to ask out your sister."_

_Shane lifted his shades and let them perch on top of his head. He and Chris were sitting on the hood of Chris's car eating junk food. They did this sometimes, just get the greasiest, fried meal they could get, sit on the hood of his car like they were teenagers, and pig out and talk because both of them sometimes needed to escape the hustle and bustle that their jobs afforded them._

_Chris and Shane had taken an instant liking to each other. Being only separated by eleven months, they had grown up in the same generation and they could relate to one another. They had become fast friends, and had grown to be pretty close in the past year and a half, and he considered him one of his best friends here in the business, someone he could trust, and trust was hard to come by in this type of business, what with people always stepping over people to get to the top._

"_You're going to have to repeat yourself," Shane said._

_Chris chuckled and continued to stare straight ahead, not bothering to take off his own sunglasses or look over at his friend. "Like I said, I'm going to ask Stephanie out, and I'm not asking your permission because she's a grown woman, but I'm telling you as a friend."_

"_Oh."_

"_And friends tell friends when they're going to ask out their sister."_

"_Why my sister?" Shane groaned. "You could have anyone, why are you going after my sister?"_

"_I like her," he shrugged as he took a bite out of his burger. He chewed thoughtfully and when his mouth was empty spoke again. "I've liked her for a while, Shane, I'm seriously not asking for your permission on this one. I'm going to ask her out whether you like it or not."_

"_I'm not saying I don't like it per se…"_

"_Please don't even start to tell me that you think your sister is too good for me," Chris said. "Because if you say that, man, I think…I don't know what I'll think because that right there, that's fucked up."_

"_I'm not saying that," he answered quickly and defensively. "I'm not saying she's too good for you, not at all, I'm just worried that you guys will get together, date for a while, break up and then I'm forced to choose sides."_

"_Oh," Chris laughed. "I should've known, this isn't about us at all, it's about you and your need to focus on yourself, yeah, I get it, classic McMahon trait right there, I've noticed, always looking out for #1."_

_Shane rolled his eyes and put his sunglasses back on. "Yeah, that's me. Seriously though, I don't want to choose sides with you guys, I don't want it to come to that because you're my friend and she's my sister, it would put me between a rock and a hard place."_

"_I really like Stephanie, man," Chris said, and Shane could hear the seriousness in his voice that had been lacking in their conversation up until now. "I really, really like her, you have no idea. When I talk to her, she's different, she's so different from everyone that I know, every girl that I've ever met. She's different."_

_It was then that Shane knew this man was right for his sister._

"So then Chris told me that there was a little hazing going on with one of the rookie wrestlers, nothing too bad I hope, he wouldn't go into details and he said he was having nothing to do with it."

"Why not?" Trish asked. "I would think that Chris would go for that kind of thing, you know how he is with pranks sometimes, like the time he sent us a Christmas card filled with confetti like some jerky little kid, I had that stuff in my carpet for weeks."

"Okay, so that was Finny's idea," Stephanie laughed. "Chris was just the one who actually executed it. He said that he's not getting into it because he's married to me now and if he were to do something and get in trouble, that means the McMahons would get into trouble and he's representing all of us now, I thought that was sweet."

"I liked it better when Chris was _my_ friend and not attached to your hip," Shane sulked, tiring of the conversation about how great Chris was and how sweet he was. He didn't understand how Trish didn't tire of it herself, but she seemed to be hanging onto Stephanie's every word. Finnegan was trying to read the menu even though the words kept eluding him and he didn't know what pork medallions were.

"What?" Stephanie asked. "Come on, Shane, you would deny your friend happiness because he's married to your sister now…doesn't that sound good, married, we're married. I like that, I still can't get enough of it."

"Gag me with a spoon, I should've told Chris to run while he had a chance," he said playfully.

"Chris talked to you about me before we started dating?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, he told me that he was going to ask you out and I told him that I didn't want to have to choose between the two of you if you ever broke up," Shane explained to her. "Little did I know that he'd be the last man you ever dated and I wouldn't have to worry about choosing a side, but now that I think about it, I would've chosen his."

"What about my side, Uncle Shane?" Finnegan asked, looking up from the menu.

"Well, I'll always choose your side now," Shane told his nephew. He looked up to catch Trish gazing at him and he smiled at her. She blushed a little at being caught staring but smiled back at him, admiring the way that he handled himself around Finnegan.

"Uncle Shane, what's that word?" Finnegan asked, pointing to a word on the menu.

"Arugala."

Finnegan giggled, "That's a funny word, what is it?"

"It's like lettuce you put in a salad, you wouldn't like it, it's gross," Shane said, making a face, and he once again caught Trish staring at him. "Okay, Trish, do I have something on my face, did I get butter on it or something from the bread?"

"Oh, no, I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I just…I was just off in my own world I guess, you just happen to be sitting across from me."

"Okay, good because I wouldn't want to walk around with butter on my face or something equally embarrassing," he told her, winking at her. Stephanie looked between the two of them and rolled her eyes and looked to Finnegan who was sitting across from her and next to Shane in the booth they were all sitting in.

"Finny, did you decide what you wanted?"

"Chicken fingers, please," he grinned and Stephanie nodded and smiled.

"Okay, chicken fingers it is," she told him. "Hey, do you want to go call Daddy really quickly because he said that we had to call him at exactly 6:30, and it's almost 6:30 right now? I know he'd like to hear from you."

"Daddy, yes!" Finnegan exclaimed, standing up in the booth as Stephanie stood up and took him into her arms as they went over to the bathroom area to call Chris, leaving Trish and Shane at the table. Trish fiddled with the bread a little bit before looking back up at Shane.

"You're really good with Finn, you know," Trish told him. "I mean, I see you with him a lot and you're just so good with him, have you always been that good with kids?"

Shane guffawed, "Are you kidding me? Finn is the only kid I'm ever around, me and kids, we just don't mix, I only like Finn because he's my nephew and he's a cool, little kid, otherwise, yeah, I'm not so great with the kids."

"Really, because if you were going off just how you interact with Finn, I'd think you were great," she told him. "I like that about you. I like that you aren't afraid of him, Ron…well, sometimes I think he thinks that kids are a nuisance and doesn't want them, I mean, I know that he's not crazy about them, but I thought he might…at least want one…or two…"

"And he doesn't?" Shane asked, then caught himself, "I'm sorry, that's your personal business, I shouldn't be bothering you about it."

"No, you can bother away," she told him. "He doesn't really, I think he says he'll think about it to appease me. I didn't think I wanted them when I was in my mid-20's, but who does then? Then I see my best friend with this little boy who loves her and I love Finn too, and he's just the best kid around and I see how lucky Chris and Steph are to have one and--"

"You kind of want one too?" he finished for her and she chuckled self-consciously, twisting her wedding ring as she nodded. Shane looked down at the placemat and sighed. "Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing when I was with my ex, but she turned out to be a bitch. Chris and Stephanie make it look easy, but I know that they had a hard time with Finn when he was first born."

"The colic?"

"Yeah, the colic, I would baby-sit some nights because they were just getting no sleep at all with Finn's crying, poor kid had gas," Shane laughed. "I think though once he got past that third month he was the cool little kid he is now, but man, those first few months, I honestly think that Stephanie and Chris would've traded him in."

"Still…even with the bad stuff, they got through it, but you know, don't mind me, I'm just…I don't mean anything, if kids aren't in the cards for me and Ron, there's not much I can do about that, right, it's a mutual decision between two people…or in some cases, a complete and total surprise."

Shane looked to where Stephanie and Finnegan were standing and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, definitely, hopefully you'll work something out though, something the both of you can be happy in, that's how you do it, right?"

"Yeah, that's how you do it," she told him.

She wasn't quite sure though, even if she outwardly projected herself to be absolutely positive of everything. Her marriage just wasn't cracking up to be everything she thought it was going to be, and that made her sad. She had been with Ron for so long, high school sweethearts; that she thought it was the best she was going to do, that she had found love so early and that was it, she loved him, and that was it. But she hadn't allowed herself to grow. Being with one person for the past fifteen years was fine for some people, but she was stuck in a rut, and so was her husband. She never got that time period to go out with other guys, find the right one, Ron had been her first and last love, and she was starting to feel like maybe they had grown apart.

Dinner was uneventful, Finnegan being the liveliest one of the bunch as usual. The McMahon children were rather subdued as always, but she could see how happy Stephanie was with Chris, and how hopeful Shane was with his new relationship with Stephanie's friend, Rebecca. They were happy, and she wasn't, and that was just another thing to weigh on her shoulders. But Chris and Stephanie had gone through the fire, the bad times, the ups and the downs and had come out better for it because they had been with other people and they knew that the best was between them. Shane had been with different women and was just coming into his own. He needed a lousy fiancée to appreciate being with someone now.

Later that evening, Finnegan and Trish had been watching a movie when Finnegan kind of tipped over and fell asleep in her lap. She shifted a little, picking him up in her arms as she walked out into the kitchen where Stephanie was just getting caught up on some bills, her writing scratching across the checkbook as she checked to see how much they had spent on electricity this month. She looked up when she heard a noise to her side and saw Trish with Finnegan in her arms. He was already in his pajamas and ready for bed, his head laying across Trish's shoulder and she shifted him a little.

"Here, let me take him, he's heavy," Stephanie said of her almost five-year-old son.

"It's okay, I can put him to bed, I just wanted to tell you I was going upstairs with him."

"Are you sure though? He likes to be tucked in," she said, almost reaching out for her son.

"I'm sure," she told her friend. "It wouldn't be a bother, I might just go up to my room too."

"Okay," Stephanie whispered, standing up to brush the hair away from Finnegan's face as she kissed his forehead gently, "Night Finny baby."

"Night," he mumbled in his sleep, just barely aware of what was going on. Trish took him upstairs to his room, laying him in his hockey bed as she went to turn on the nightlight, hearing something downstairs like a door being open, but she ignored it to pull the covers down and tuck the little boy into bed so he could be comfortable in his slumber.

The door that Trish had vaguely heard was the front door and Chris had managed to get out of work early and make the flight from Atlanta to New York. He had just had a promo on the show and the arena was right by the airport. He snuck into the kitchen and saw his wife (he'd never get tired of referring to her in that particular fashion) and snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her neck.

"Wow, Trish, getting a little friendly aren't we?" she teased.

"Hey baby, look who's home?" he said, trying to sound seductive, but coming across as cheesy.

Stephanie glanced over her shoulder. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you, did I fall asleep at the table?"

"No, you didn't, what's going on, where's my son?"

"Trish is putting him to bed," Stephanie said, "while I do the bills, exciting life we lead isn't it?"

"You bet it is," he told her. "So Trish is still here, any timeline for when she's leaving?"

"I think she just needs a vacation," Stephanie said as Chris kissed her neck. "Chris, I've got bills to pay that need to go out tomorrow if you don't want our electricity or our water to be shut off."

"Oh, well, I don't need water and electricity is overrated," he told her, pulling her from her seat. "I think we can worry about that later…come on, let's go upstairs and watch television and just lie down, I like when you lie on me, you're comfortable."

"Thanks, glad I could be of service to you."

Trish watched jealously from the doorway. Neither one had heard her there, but she was quiet, so she shouldn't have expected them to hear her. She found herself a little bit jealous of her friends. She wanted that kind of camaraderie with her husband, but she found that they had nothing to discuss, nothing to say to each other, if they ever had anything to say to each other at all. It had been easy when she was wrestling, they had her entire career to discuss and they didn't see each other enough to run out of conversation, but now, the dinner table was silent and their conversation had run dry. She needed and wanted a little more excitement, but her husband wasn't providing that.

She escaped the kitchen before Chris and Stephanie turned around and went up to the guest bedroom, trying to block out the giggles and hushed tones as Chris and Stephanie walked by. Instead, to distract herself, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Ron's number, just wanting to talk to him, reassure herself that any problem could be fixed. They loved each other after all, and love was the most important ingredient.

"Hello?"

"Ronnie, it's me."

"Oh…Trish, hey, what's going on, baby?" he asked.

"Nothing, I was just going to head to bed, watch some television, what are you up to?"

"Not much, I went to a poker game at one of the guy's houses tonight, that was a good time, I won a little bit of money, not too much."

"Oh good, sounds fun."

"What about yourself?"

"Stephanie and I went shopping, then I went out to dinner with her and Finn and Shane, he has a new girlfriend, but she couldn't come tonight," she told him. "She sounds nice though, I know Stephanie approves because they're friends because her son goes to school with Finn."

"Oh, that sounds nice, babe, but I've got to go, there's a hockey game on television, a repeat and I heard there was a wicked power play, so I'm going to go catch that, okay?"

"Okay," she responded.

"Later babe, bye."

"Bye…" she echoed, but he had already hung up and it was then she noticed he hadn't said he loved her. He used to say that before he would hang up, or say how he didn't want to hang up. She sighed and set the phone down, settling herself in for a long, lonely night.

She had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time she'd have one of these.


	7. Chapter 7

Trish stared up at the ceiling as she lay with a hand in back of her head. She could hear Chris and Stephanie laughing as they walked past her room. She closed her eyes in anguish at hearing them. It just reminded her of her own situation, and she didn't want to think about her own situation right now. That's why she was here in the first place. She knew that she was probably starting to be imposing, but she honestly didn't want to go back home.

She realized how sad that was, and she laughed sadly at the notion. She didn't want to go back home. She would rather be here with Chris, Stephanie, and Finn than be at home with her own family. Stephanie probably liked having her here since she was all the way in Toronto, but still, they did deserve their privacy. She would book a flight tomorrow for the day after or something. She knew that she'd have to face her problems at some point, but she didn't want to face them.

"Hey Trish, you asleep?" Stephanie asked through the door.

"No," she called out.

"Did you need anything?" she asked. "Because Chris and I are going to bed and I wanted to know if you needed anything before we went to bed."

"Hey Steph, can you come in here?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, sure," Stephanie said, opening the door and taking a few steps inside. "What did you need?"

"Are you and Chris going to go do something?" she asked, trying to be suggestive without being crass. "I mean, like…something that would require you to…I don't know, be alone or something?"

"Um, no," she laughed, "we weren't going to go have sex if that's what you're suggesting. We were just going to watch television, but if you want to talk I can tell him I'll be right in there."

"Would you?"

"Yeah, sure, hold on," Stephanie said, disappearing again. Trish waited patiently. She hadn't told anyone about her situation with Ron, but who else could she turn to but her best friend? If Stephanie couldn't help her, she didn't know who else she could actually turn to. Stephanie reappeared a few moments later and hopped on the bed. "So what's up?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I just…I don't know."

"What's this about?" Stephanie asked gently.

"I'm just…I don't know, I was thinking about going home the day after tomorrow," Trish told her.

"Okay, if that's what you want."

"I feel like I've been imposing on you and Chris."

"Nonsense," she insisted, "you've been anything but imposing. We love having you here, you know that. You are welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Don't you wonder why I'm staying here?"

"It's crossed my mind, yes," Stephanie said. "Is something going on with Ron?"

Trish wanted to tell her, but something stopped her. Maybe it was her jealousy towards Stephanie and Chris. She knew they had gone through their hard times, her getting pregnant and then them breaking up, but they were happy now. Ron and her, maybe they needed the hard times, it had all seemed so easy before, but it was hardly easy now. She felt embarrassed that she had been with a man for so long and only now did she feel problems.

"Oh, no, he just…he travels so much, I get a little lonely," she lied. It was true that Ron traveled, but it really wasn't that much, or it hadn't seemed that much before because she was traveling all the time as well.

"That's natural," Stephanie told her, "I got the same way when I was really pregnant with Finny. Chris was still on the road, and I couldn't be with him, and it really got to where I was missing him. It got really lonely, you know this house, imagine having to be here all alone while your entire family is working and you're sitting here because somewhere along the line, your protection failed."

"Yeah," she said, "it just gets lonely, I don't have many friends who are still in Toronto."

"Yeah, Chris was like that when he first moved up here from Florida," Stephanie said. "He just wasn't used to it, didn't know anyone here, but over time, you'll find people. Trust me, you will find people, and you're always welcome here, we have _way_ too much room for three people and you're always welcome to stave off your loneliness here."

"Thanks, Steph," Trish said, leaning forward to hugging her friend. She pulled away and looked down at the comforter, "Hey, when did you know for sure that Chris was the man that you wanted to be with for the rest of your life?"

"Wow, that's a loaded question," Stephanie giggled, "When did you know with Ron?"

Trish smiled wistfully, "High school, I don't know, he was just…the sweetest guy, you know, and popular and he had everything that I was looking for."

"I envy that kind of assurance," Stephanie said. "It must be crazy to find the man that you love so young, it's like, fate wanted you to start early or something. With Chris, I think…I've never really thought about it, probably a little bit before I got pregnant, I don't know, I knew I loved being with him, I knew that we had fun, Finny changed the dynamic, but the sentiment was there."

"Yeah, same with Ron, I just…I knew," she said.

"It's a good feeling, huh?"

"What is?"

"Knowing that you're with someone who loves you, knowing that you're loved. I mean, your family loves you, obviously, but knowing that someone out there didn't know you, but when they did, they fell in love with you, it's a good feeling."

"Yeah, it is," Trish said, wondering when that feeling had disappeared for her and Ron. "I think I'm going to hit the sack though."

"Okay, night, Trish," Stephanie said, getting up and going to the door, closing it behind her and leaving Trish all alone…again.

She walked through her front door a couple of days later. The house seemed quiet. Maybe it seemed quiet because she had gotten used to having Finny around and he was loud, but she was back to the quiet now, her pristine house that seemed so unlived in. She hadn't spent a lot of time here over the years, and it just had a very cold feeling, but that felt like her entire life right now, the cold had settled into her home, and under her skin.

"Ron?" she called out, briefly remembering the days when she would affectionately call him Ronny.

She didn't hear anything and she didn't know why she should've been surprised at that. She went into the kitchen, seeing the table scattered with letters and bills. She picked on up, seeing it was the satellite bill and she set it back down, figuring she'd take care of it later. Another letter was the invitation for Finnegan's fifth birthday party, and still another was a letter from her mother with a newspaper clipping from a local newspaper about something or another that she did.

Her life was scattered on this table, bills and the caring from everyone other than her husband. Her mother, always on the lookout for her name, Stephanie and Chris, wanting her to be a part of their big moments, everyone wanted a piece of her, but the part of her that should fill the biggest spot seemed to be missing in action, never needing a piece of her, even when she offered it readily. She never thought she'd be in a loveless marriage, but what could she possibly define this as?

"Trish, that you?"

Trish looked up and saw Ron walking in, briefcase in hand and coat slung over one shoulder. He looked legitimately surprised to see her. "Yeah, I came home."

"I wasn't expecting you," he said, coming over and kissing her forehead. Anything more might just make her keel over. "Why didn't you call me?"

"I guess it slipped my mind," she told him, but she had figured that he wouldn't much care when she came home. He had barely called her when she had been staying at Chris and Stephanie's house. He'd call _maybe_ once a day, just to see what she was up to. The calls were always curt and polite, much like their relationship nowadays. Had her being in the WWE really skewed her perception of this relationship for so long? How could she have not seen that it was going so awry?

"Oh, okay, did you want to go out for dinner or something?" he asked. "I was just planning on making something here, but since you're home, maybe we should go out."

"Are you up for it?" she asked. "Or did you have a hard day at the office?"

"I can go out, it wasn't that bad," he told her.

"Okay," she shrugged, having nothing better to do. Besides, the tension in this house was stifling. She felt like every crevice was a danger zone. She could feel it all crumbling slowly, but she was too slow to move, she didn't want to fix it, it seemed, or maybe it was beyond fixing.

"Let's go then, I can stay in what I'm in," he told her. She stood up and started to walk out to the cars, Ron following behind her. Two separate paths, not walking together, that was how they had decided to live their lives, never quite reaching that point where they honestly stood and walked together. She was always too fast or he was always too slow and they could never meet up in the middle.

Dinner was less painful than if they had had it at home. At least if they were out they could people-watch and avoid each other a little bit longer, "So what did you do in Connecticut, anything noteworthy?"

"Nothing," she told him. "I just hung out with Stephanie, and then one night we had dinner with her brother, he has a new girlfriend, he seems happy."

"Good for him," Ron said. "And how is Stephanie and Chris's son?"

"Finn is good," Trish said, "He's grown so big, we got an invitation to his fifth birthday coming up, I thought that it would be fun to fly out there for his birthday, I love that little kid."

"You should go for it then," he said, not even including himself in that equation. It wasn't that he disliked Chris and Stephanie, it was just that they were _her_ friends first and foremost and not his friends. It went the same way with his friends, Trish had never felt like one of them whenever she went out with Ron and his friends, she was just one of the wives, no discerning personality.

"Yeah, I'm planning on it," Trish said, twisting her pasta around her fork. She decided to dive into meatier topics. Why? She didn't exactly know the answer to that. Maybe it was because she wanted to know, or maybe she just wanted to make conversation, anything to just talk with her husband and ignore for a few moments that they really had nothing to talk about and were at a major stalemate. "I love that little guy."

"He's a good kid," Ron agreed.

"Yeah, I mean, if all kids could be like him, I don't think that anyone wouldn't want a kid," she said. "He's really just the sweetest little kid there ever was. He loves his parents, and he's just so smart and polite."

"Yeah," Ron responded, staring down at his meal more intently than he had stared at her all night.

"Ron, what do you think about having one of those, and I'm not saying I'm pregnant, not at all, but in the future, if I were to become pregnant, or if I was to want one of those kids, would you hate it?"

"Where is this coming from?"

"I'm just asking," she told him, and she was. At this point, she wasn't sure if she wanted Ron to be the father of her future children. "It's just a question, no need to get testy over it. We've been married for a while now, we've been together for fifteen years, what's so wrong about thinking about it?"

"We're both very busy."

"So? So are Chris and Stephanie and they're doing okay."

"They also didn't plan Finn, did they?"

"No, but when they found out about him, they changed their ways, they changed their schedules, and they still do. Do you think it's easy for them to do that when they have so many responsibilities? No, it's not, but they make the time for their son, what's so different with us? I have time now, and if you were home more--"

"Don't begrudge my job," he warned.

"I'm not," she said. "It was just a thought, whatever."

She went back to her pasta, focusing on getting the noodles just right on her fork so none would fall off when she lifted it to her mouth. She knew that getting into that subject was going to be painful, but she had to know if anything was going to work. She couldn't live with the silence much longer and she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"If you want a child, then you can have a child."

"Well, it'd take more than just me, I'm not asexual," Trish told him, recalling her time in college for the reference.

"It might be good for you to have a project or something," he said, tapping his chin a little bit. "Let's give it more thought, and then if we can agree and decide, maybe we should proceed and actually have a child. How does that sound?"

It didn't sound good to her ears, but saying it wasn't good would just incite a different fight, and she didn't want to get into it here, in this public place, "Yeah, sounds good."

She also made no mention how he thought a child would be a _project_ for _her_.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Aww, my poor, unloved story. Sorry for lack of updates, but for the like 3 of you reading this story, I hope you enjoy it and leave a review, thanks. :)

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Stephanie would never be one of the upper-crust Connecticut snobs. She knew this and had known this since she was in high school. Before that, she had been indifferent, not knowing or caring about her place in this community. When she had gotten herself pregnant, it had never been more apparent that she didn't belong in their world. She had her friends, sure, but she had the people who looked down on her, thought she was a slut because she had been an unwed mother, despite the fact she had stayed with and eventually married her child's father.

With the status of her parents, she had never fit in, despite the fact they had more money than most people. The means at which they had gotten their wealth was looked down upon, funding riff-raff and hooligans. Her parents had established friends before they had ever bought the WWF from her grandfather, so they fit into that society, but not Stephanie and Shane, no, they were always different.

She had done herself no favors by getting pregnant by one of those muscle-heads that worked for her father. Her parent's friends had been aghast at her decision to not marry Chris, so set in their old, snobby Connecticut ways. A woman should be married and happy before getting pregnant. A woman should lunch and be a part of organizations and country clubs and she should hire a nanny for her children to foster their well-being.

They shouldn't be like Stephanie, bucking tradition at every turn. She had gotten pregnant out of wedlock, had not married her baby's father, had found a job, didn't lunch and wouldn't even dare ever think of hiring a nanny for her son. No, she was the opposite of everything that the snobby Connecticut community believed in. She hadn't cared though, because she was happy, and she loved Chris and she loved her little boy. She never thought that it would extend to her little boy.

She was in for a rude awakening.

Stephanie was leaning against her car with Rebecca next to her. They both had their arms folded as they waited to go pick up the boys from preschool. It would be letting out soon, but the kids were finishing up their drawings so Stephanie and Rebecca figured they could wait until the boys were ready to come out. Stephanie laughed to herself and Rebecca looked at her questioningly.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't know," Stephanie said. "I just…you're dating my brother."

"You've known this," Rebecca told her, still not getting the joke.

"No, I know, it just…it kind of hit me. My brother has never dated one of my friends, and it's like I want to ask you about your boyfriend, get all the juicy details, but then I think for a moment and I'm like, no, eww, I don't want any juicy details about my brother," she said, scrunching up her nose at the thought.

"Okay, yeah, that's a little funny," Rebecca said with a giggle. "Any other guy, I'd be gushing, but you know your own brother. I mean, well, you know his quirks and stuff, so I don't have to tell you about it."

"You can complain to me, I'm very familiar with his bad qualities."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," she said. "I'm happy though, and Richie likes him for the most part. He's still a little bit on the weary side. He's young though, he doesn't really understand the whole divorce thing. I think he still wishes his father were around."

"Yeah, that's gotta be hard, and my brother…not exactly familiar with kids. I think the only kid he's ever been around is Finny."

"He's trying though, that's the best I could've hoped for. He's getting better. I think it might be good if he spent time alone with Richie, but we're working up to that, I'm not sure I just want to send the two of them off into the sunset."

"In my brother's defense, he's really good with Finny when they're alone. I've trusted him to take care of him since he was a baby. Even when Finny had colic, he was great with him, not that Finny would actually stop crying, but Shane dealt with it well."

"That's good to hear, I just want my kid to like him and him to like my kid."

"Totally understandable," she told her friend, then saw Finnegan and Richard walking out with another little boy, looking like they were comparing pictures. "Here they come. Are you doing anything with Shane tonight?"

"No, he has to work late. Your dad isn't exactly kind, is he?"

"No, he doesn't. I'm probably going to be working late too. Chris is going to pick him up from the office. It's a busy time with WrestleMania literally just around the corner, everything's picking up."

"Finn's birthday is coming up too, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's coming up too, and I'm sending out invitations tomorrow. We're going to have a wrestling-themed party because that's what Finn wants. I tried to convince him of something else, like baseball or football, but he insisted on wrestler, so I'm getting some of the guys to stop by for his friends. It should be fun."

"That will be fun," she said, "Richie will definitely be there."

"Great," she said as she watched Finnegan stopped to talk to another little boy.

She was just walking over with Rebecca when another woman, impeccably dressed, a large-brimmed hat over her head, tilted jauntily to the side came over and snatched the little boy's hand who was standing next to Finnegan. Stephanie wondered what the hell her problem was, but the woman answered that question because Stephanie could hear her hissing, practically spitting at the little boy.

"What have I told you about hanging around that boy?" the woman said.

Stephanie was confused and didn't want to listen in to the conversation, but it was about her son. She took a glance at Finnegan, who didn't seem to notice any of this, but he was happily talking to a couple of other students. The little boy shrugged his answer and the woman actually stopped to turn to the little boy, and Stephanie wondered what kind of world this woman lived in. Probably stuffy, definitely uptight, she looked like the kind of person who made you take off your shoes in the house and then put them in a special bin so as not to dirty her house.

"I don't want you hanging around him, we have a place, Joshua, how many times must Mother tell you that we have to keep up appearances?"

"Yes, Mother," the little boy mumbled.

"We don't associate with hooligans," she said, pulling him along.

"Steph, don't listen to her, she's a bitch," Rebecca said, seeing Stephanie's eyes widen. Stephanie glanced at Finnegan again and she just stood there, unable to even process anything.

"Did you hear what she said?"

"Don't worry about it, look, I've heard from other mothers that she's the uber-bitch of the century. She hates me because I'm divorced. Apparently good society sticks out an unhappy marriage."

"She said my son was a hooligan," Stephanie said in disbelief, shaking her head. "A hooligan…"

"Who even uses that word anymore?" Rebecca joked uncomfortably.

Stephanie tried to find the words, but she was failing, "She physically pulled her son away from mine…because of me and Chris?"

"No, Steph, come on, she hates everyone, she's fussy and uptight, remember, she's the one at the Christmas pageant who demanded the front row," Rebecca said, trying to be of comfort to Stephanie, but Stephanie was too far gone, instead, she was horrified that this is what it had come to, that she had finally influenced her son negatively.

"Yeah, but she wasn't demanding that my son stay away from her son because he's what? Trouble or something? My son is trouble?"

"No, of course not, Finn is great, he's great, Steph, you know this. Don't let one woman do this to you. Especially not a woman like that. She's incredibly close-minded, if you don't come from money, then you're not worth her time."

"Hi Mommy," Finnegan said, thrusting up his picture, "Look, it's my picture, do you like it?"

"Yeah baby, I love it," she said, taking it from him as he searched for her hand.

"Hey there Finn, hey Richie, did you guys have fun in school today?"

"Uh huh," Richie said. "Mommy, can we go to the store and get more crayons?"

"Yeah sure, we better do it quickly though before they run out," she said, grabbing his hand. She turned to Stephanie again and patted her on the shoulder with her free hand, "Seriously, Stephanie, do not worry about what one woman out of like, thirty said, okay? It's just not worth it."

"Yeah, okay," Stephanie said, forcing a smile on her face. As soon as Rebecca was gone, Stephanie wanted to interrogate Sawyer about who that kid was and if this scene had been repeated before, but she refrained. She wasn't going to tip off her son to anything.

"Are we going to Titan, Mommy?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, then furrowed her brow. What four-year old spent every afternoon in a stuffy office building with nothing to do? "I mean, if you want to, we can go home, or to the park, or ice cream, how about some ice cream?"

"But I wanted to see Grandpa because he said that when I came over that he would give me a WrestleMania shirt before anyone, Mommy," Finnegan told her. "And if I don't go, he might give it to someone else."

"Who's he going to give it to, Finny?"

"I don't know, Mommy, but I don't want to find out," he said, repeating a line he had heard in a movie.

"But I mean, don't you think Titan is boring?"

"Uh uh," Finnegan said, shaking his head. "I go there every other day because you work there, Mommy, I like it there."

"Are you sure? I mean, most little boys go home after school."

"Okay," he said, which didn't make any sense, but he was pulling her towards the car anyways. She laughed a little as she had to be directed around by her little boy. The words that woman had spoken weren't out of her head, but she trusted herself in believing that Finnegan was a good kid, maybe the best kid, and she would just have to live with the fact that people thought she was a good-for-nothing just because of where she came from and the choices that she had made in her life.

When they got to Titan, the happily oblivious Finnegan ran into the elevator and tried to jump to get to the button to Vince's floor. Stephanie pressed it for him to appease him and he practically bounced the entire way up before storming out of the elevator like there were bees inside towards Vince's office. Finnegan was the only one allowed to barge into Vince's office without an appointment, even Stephanie had to call ahead first to see if he was free.

"Grandpa Vince!" Finnegan yelled as he went into Vince's office, Stephanie at his heels. Vince was watching something but paused it the moment that Finnegan came in.

"Finn, are you out of school already?" Vince asked.

"Yup," Finnegan said, "Grandpa, did you get my t-shirt? I want to wear it to school."

"Does your grandpa ever let you down?" Vince asked sternly.

"Yes, that's what Mommy says," Finnegan answered with a smile as Vince raised his eyebrow at Stephanie. She shrugged in response. "Grandpa, can I watch what you're watching?"

"Well, it was just tapes from one of the developmental territories, but…sure, come on over," he said as Finnegan came over and Vince lifted him to sit on his desk. "I can take care of him for a while, Steph, so go do your work."

"Thanks Dad," she told him as she slowly exited the room, looking back a couple of times. She remembered sitting with her father, watching him work and wanting to be a part of it too. She had been so integrated into the business that it was the only thing she ever wanted to do. She never dreamed of being part of the society that lunched and was a part of groups like the DAR. That wasn't her, but maybe this life wasn't Finnegan's.

She was distracted from her work and when Chris came to pick up Finnegan, he found her sitting at her desk, chin in hand, staring off into space. He leaned in the doorway a moment, wondering if she would notice that he was there. He must've stood there for at least four minutes and nothing, no recognition at all.

"Well, nice to know after almost seven years, I don't even get a hello anymore."

"Huh?" Stephanie said, turning and seeing her husband standing in the doorway, "Oh, hey Chris."

"'Oh, hey Chris'? That's what I get? You haven't seen me all day, we haven't even talked because you were in meetings all morning and that's all I get, wow, and here I thought marriage was supposed to bring people together," he teased.

"Sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind today," she told him with a strained smile. He sighed and looked over at her. He could tell her moods and her feelings on sight. He sat down on the chair across from her desk and then leaned forward so his forearms were on the desk itself.

"Tell me what's wrong," he insisted.

"Oh, it's nothing, really," she told him, putting on her best face. He leaned back and studied her, "I'm serious, Chris."

"Yeah, right, but I'm not going to push it, learned that lesson about five years ago," he joked, but she only gave him a smile. "This problem that you're so obviously having, it's nothing that would seriously concern me, right? It's nothing that has to do with Finn, you, me, or our marriage, right?"

"Right," she said. "Chris, can I ask you something?"

"Well, I think that we agreed you could ask me things, yes, I think that was mentioned somewhere in the marriage contract."

"What did you think of Connecticut when you first moved here when I was pregnant?" she wondered.

"Well, I wasn't around my friends, so that was a little bit hard, but I got used to it. People are a little stuffier up here than in Florida, but I managed, and now its home, why do you ask? Oh God, your father is transferring you or something, isn't he? Shit, it's the new offices in California, isn't it? God…"

"No," she giggled, the first time she had been amused since he had been there, "My father's not transferring me over there. I was just curious as to what you thought about it. I mean, there are a lot of snobs around here, right?"

"Let's see, like 60% of our neighborhood is a bunch of snobs. Thank God we have four acres of land so I don't have to see those tight-asses all the time," Chris said. "I swear, some of them give me the dirtiest looks, like they can't believe I live on their street, and it's like, what the hell business is it of theirs?"

"Yeah," she said, "I know, people are so horrible sometimes. What are we going to do with Finny when he starts kindergarten, Chris? We have him at preschool four days a week because we travel on Monday, but we can't keep doing that, who travels with a child all the time?"

"Brangelina?" he questioned, "they're always taking their kids somewhere or something."

"Well, besides them…it's not normal to take him on the road."

"So you're saying you want to stop traveling?" he asked. "I thought we said we'd discuss this before we enrolled Finnegan into kindergarten."

"But it's coming up quickly, and I don't know…maybe a sense of normalcy for us would do us some good," she said to him, thinking back to earlier. She didn't want anyone to see her son as a troublemaker, or different. She wanted Finnegan to never have to be taunted because of where he came from. She knew, realistically, it probably wouldn't work out that way and he'd be fine, he had been fine all this time in preschool, but still, she didn't want her choices to affect her son's life.

"We're normal," he argued and she gave him a look, "What? We are normal now. We're married, we both have good, well-paying jobs, we just happen to work under your father. We have a son that is a good kid. I don't see what the problem is. We have normalcy. And if worse comes to worse, we get Finn a private tutor, we discussed this, or we have your mom stay with him on Sunday nights and Mondays. We've got plans, Steph, don't forget that."

"Yeah, we have plans…Chris…"

"Oh no, I know there's another question coming on," Chris groaned, "and by the way, where the hell is our son?"

"With my dad, they're watching tapes of OVW. As for the question…do you think we're not good enough, I mean…like, as parents? We offer no stability whatsoever to our son."

"Where is this coming from? We're fine, Steph," he said. "Sure, we're a little weird, but how normal were _our_ childhoods and you know what, I can speak for myself when I say I'm awesome, you're awesome too, just a little less."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I guess you're right, I was just…thinking is all. You know what, I'm not getting any work done today, I think I'm just going to call it a day and leave with you guys, is that okay?"

"Is that okay? Are you kidding me? If you're willing to skip work for me and Finn, that's like, better than okay," he told her, standing up. She gathered up some of her work and stuck it in her briefcase before she walked around her desk and let Chris wrap his arm around her waist as they walked down the hallway to get Finnegan. Chris kissed her neck and she pushed him away playfully.

"Not at work," she told him.

"You looked sad. Are you sad? Did I do something? Cause just tell me if I did," he told her, as he reached forward to press the button for the elevator. "I really want to know if I did something."

"No, you didn't do anything, you're in the clear," she told him, leaning into him. "I just worry over stupid stuff. You know how I am."

"Unfortunately," he teased. "But really, if something's bothering you…"

"I know, I know, I can come to you, I get it, Chris, you take this husband thing very seriously," she told him as she leaned her chin on his shoulder to look at his profile. You couldn't help who you fell in love with. It just happens, and if the person makes you happy, who cares what they do or who they are? She had to remind herself of that, and the fact that Chris was a great everything in her life. She loved him and everything he had given to her. He turned his head slightly and gave her a small smile. She gave him a smile back because she never could resist the urge to smile around him.

But it still didn't quell the uneasy feeling that she was screwing up her son's life.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Thanks to those who review and those who don't, shame on you! :P

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She was late.

No, not for a meeting or something important, well, this could have the potential to be important if it came off the way that she wanted it to, then it would be more important than any meeting she had ever attended in her life. She was late in the sense that she was _late_, as in she hadn't had that certain visit from Aunt Flo yet.

Now, she wasn't getting her hopes up too much because she had always been irregular, what with her lifestyle. She had exercised so much and so often, and traveled so much and so often that she hadn't been regular in a long time. Sometimes she'd be a few days late, sometimes she would be right on time, but never had she been an entire week late. So this was definitely new territory for her. When she realized the date, a giddiness had almost settled over her, and she found herself unable to sit still for any period of time.

She was fidgeting right now, waiting for her husband to come home. She couldn't wait to tell him the news. She didn't know if she was, but she had hesitated on buying a pregnancy test just yet. She wanted to see his reaction first, and then maybe they could go down to the store together and buy one and take it together so that they found out at the exact same moment. She knew that she was being silly and romantic, but she wanted it to be just right. Didn't she deserve just right? She wanted to do this the right way, with her husband by her side. After all, he was in on the equation too, he should get a say in all of this.

She had all the romantic notions in her head. Maybe he would come home and she'd tell him, and they'd make love all night long and in the morning they would wake up to one another and she would take the test and they would live their lives happily together forever. Or she would make him a romantic dinner and confess over the candlelight. Her smile grew; this was just what they needed, this was going to be the best thing to ever happen to them. She didn't know what to do with herself at the moment, so she got up and went downstairs to the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water. If she was pregnant, she would have to keep her health up.

She couldn't help but see her reflection in their sliding door. She stared at herself in it, turning to the side slightly and picturing what she'd look like round with child. She could almost see it now, being pregnant, and glowing like they said that pregnant woman did. She recalled when Stephanie had been pregnant with Finnegan. She didn't recall Stephanie glowing, but she hadn't really been looking for it at all. She knew that Stephanie was nervous…maybe Stephanie wasn't the best person to think about when it came to pregnancies, Stephanie's hadn't been planned.

Instead she thought to her younger sister, Melissa, the only one of her siblings to have a child. Melissa definitely glowed when she was pregnant. She would glow too, she decided, because this was part of the reason that she retired in the first place. She wanted to have a family and she couldn't have one if she was still wrestling and traveling for four days a week. But she was here now, and she was happier than she had been since she had left the ring.

She needed to do something right now, she was so nervous. Her fingers were literally twitching in anticipation of…something. She went to the phone and called up her sister, Christie, who she knew was probably home in the middle of the afternoon, unlike Melissa. Christie answered on the second ring.

"Hey, sis," Trish said jovially, unable to contain the happiness in her voice.

"What's up?" Christie asked. "You don't usually call me, Patty."

"Don't call me Patty, you know that I hate being called Patty," Trish told her sister. This was a routine that they had been doing since they were little. Christie was the baby of the family and she hadn't been able to say Trish without making the "r" sound like a "w," so instead, she had always called her Patty, but Trish had been telling her to call her Trish since she was seven years old.

"Sorry," she said, dragging the syllables out. "But seriously, you never call me in the middle of the day, so you must be horribly bored or something…either that or you're shopping and you need your little sister's opinion, the sensible dresser in the family."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Well, I'm just saying that you _and_ Mel dress like hookers most of the time."

"That's because you're an accountant," Trish said, "if you were to dress like I _used_ to dress and how Mel dresses right now, then I think you would be fired."

"Either that or my clientele would suddenly jump in the male department," Christie joked. "So are you shopping?"

"No, I just…I couldn't hold it in any longer," Trish said, her voice starting to get a little squeaky from the excitement.

"Hold what in?"

"I think I'm pregnant!" Trish exclaimed happily, a little squeal escaping as she bounced on the balls of her feet. She almost had to clutch the counter to keep her knees from buckling.

"What!" Christie exclaimed, "Are you shitting me?"

"No, I'm not, I'm late, I've never been this late before, I swear, I think I'm pregnant," Trish told her, "I've never been this excited for anything…ever, I'm just waiting for Ron to get home so I can tell him, and then we can take the test."

"Oh yeah…Ron," Christie said, and Trish could almost picture her sticking her tongue out. Christie didn't like the guy, "Didn't you tell me just the other week that he thought it was a bad idea for you two to have a kid?"

"Well, he did say that it was a project for me," she said in distaste, "but if he knows that we're actually having one, I don't think that he's going to be against the idea. I think he's going to surprise me, Christie, honestly, I think that he's going to be happy."

"Is Ron ever happy about anything? I've never seen him crack a smile…uh…ever," she said sarcastically, "no, wait, there may have been one at your wedding…no, that was probably just gas."

"Christie…" Trish said with warning in her voice.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologized, "I just think he's the wrong guy for you, but don't listen to your sister, I'm only the person who had known you my entire life, who grew up with you, who cares about you."

"I've been with Ron for like fifteen years, Christie."

"And what did I do the first time you brought him home?" she asked, prompting Trish to answer the question that they both already knew the answer to.

"You kicked him in the shin after he stepped on your doll," Trish answered dully. "But that was forever ago, Christie, I doubt you'd throw a hissy fit if he stepped on your old doll now."

"It's not that he stepped on it, it's the way that he reacted, like it was nothing, and you want _this_ guy to be the father of your children? Bad news, Patty, bad, bad, bad news. I can go on an on about it if you want me to."

"He already could be the father of my child," Trish told her. "I love him, Christie, you don't understand, you've never been in love like this."

"Thank God, I like to think I have better taste. I just don't get it, Patty, you've been with him forever and that's…well, I don't know. You never got a chance to see if there was someone better out there for you, and it sucks that you couldn't do what normal people do, and that's date!"

"I'm happy."

"No, you're not, you told me like three weeks ago that you were starting to doubt yourself."

"But I may be pregnant now, that changes everything," Trish replied. "Don't try to kill my buzz, Christie, please, or I may have to call Melissa."

"She'll only want to set up play-dates with Poe, and why anyone would name their kid Poe after Edgar Allan, I have no idea, still haven't figured that one out yet," Christie said with a soft chuckle, and I'm not trying to kill your buzz, Patty, I'm just worried that Ron is not going to have the same reaction that you're having."

"I know him better than you do, Christie," Trish said defensively.

"I've got a client that I need to meet with, Patty, I'll talk to you later, okay, tell me how it goes and if I get a new niece or nephew."

"I will, bye, Christie."

"Later."

Trish hung up and she sat down with a sigh at her kitchen table. She had been trying to ignore the thought that Ron wouldn't be happy about this, and she had been successful at it until Christie had brought up the fact that Ron might not be so jazzed about the news. She knew that it was a possibility, but she was trying very hard not to think about it, and not believe that he would think that of their child.

She remembered his words when she had brought up the idea of children, he had called it a project. But faced with the real news of a child, he wouldn't be so callous, she knew this. He wouldn't be so heartless as to think of a child as anything less than a blessing. She wanted this, and she knew that Ron would want this too. He just had to; she couldn't see it any other way. So Christie had done a pretty shitty job of making her feel good about the situation.

She thought about calling her sister, Melissa, but she just wasn't that close to her sister. She was…in simple terms, weird. She wouldn't give good advice. She thought about calling Stephanie, but she didn't want to let Stephanie know until she was absolutely sure. Stephanie would probably get all excited and everything…but was that really bad right now? Her own sister had put doubts in her mind, and maybe Stephanie could restore that excitement. Deciding it was better than nothing, she dialed Stephanie's work number after looking at the clock and seeing that Stephanie would still be at the office.

"Stephanie Irvine's office, this is Delia speaking," Stephanie's secretary said.

"Hey Delia, is Stephanie in?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"This is Trish Stratus."

"Hold on."

There was a pause and then, "Stephanie Irvine speaking."

"Hey, Steph, it's Trish, is this a bad time?"

"Oh, hey, Trish, no, I'm not busy or anything, just pretending to look busy," she laughed, "what's going on, you don't usually call me at the office."

"Yeah, I know, I just wanted to see what was up with you, how's Finn?"

"He's Finn," Stephanie said with a soft smile. "He's with my dad right now, looking at new merchandise that they're releasing, I think he's getting a bunch of action figures that he's going to leave around the house."

Trish laughed, "He's a kid, that's what they do."

"I know, and it doesn't help that he gets free toys," Stephanie said, "it's bad enough that his grandparents and Shane spoil the hell out of him, he has to get free stuff on top of that? It's insane."

"He's not complaining, I'm sure."

"No, he doesn't, and half of the stuff I donate anyways, ever since the wedding, Finny wants to donate his things that he doesn't play with, which I think is the nicest thing," Stephanie said. "He said that he liked giving things to kids with no toys, I swear, I think they switched him at birth with some other kid. Somewhere out there is a really cocky, arrogant, selfish, egotistical little boy."

"Well then the resemblance between you and Finn is uncanny if he's not your child."

"True, so what's going on with you, why'd you call?"

"No reason, I was just bored and thinking, and I thought I'd call you. I talked to my sister right before you and she was kind of a buzzkill."

"Why? What buzz did she kill?"

"Oh, she just doesn't like Ron," Trish lied. She just really didn't want to outright say it to her friend, not before Ron found out of the possible development. Christie was her sister, so she was allowed to know, but now nobody was going to know before Ron. "She never has."

"Oh, well, don't listen to her, as long as you're happy, who cares what she thinks, right?"

"Yeah, I know, right, she's not even married," Trish said, trying to make herself feel better. "You like Ron, right?"

"I have no reason not to," Stephanie told her. "He seems like a nice guy, he doesn't usually come with you over here, so my impression of him is a little skewed since I don't know him terribly well, but he seems like a nice guy. But seriously, as long as you're happy with him, then who cares what anyone else thinks?" Maybe Stephanie should take some of that advice for herself.

"What if Shane hated Chris, what would you do?"

"I'd tell him to fuck off because it's none of his business. Honestly, maybe Shane wouldn't have wanted me dating Chris because they were friends before we got together and he wanted Chris all to himself," she joked, "but if Shane honestly didn't like Chris, I'd really tell him to fuck off about it."

"Well, you're mean, so I can see that happening."

"Gee thanks," Stephanie deadpanned.

"Mommy, Mommy, look, it's Daddy, it's Daddy!" Finn said, racing into the room.

"I see that," Stephanie said as she saw Finn with Chris's new action figure, "Trish, I'm going to have to let you go, Finny wants to show me Chris's new action figure and all the things that he can do, so I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, yeah," Trish said, wishing that she could talk more with her friend, but she knew that Finnegan always came first. "Bye, Steph."

"Bye."

Trish hung up the phone again and put her hand on her stomach, wondering if she would be a good mother like Stephanie was. Finnegan was the most important thing to her and she always treated him as such. She just hoped that she would be as good a mother, and that Ron would be as good a father as Chris was. Chris lived for that little boy, and he and Stephanie always made time for Finnegan, even when their schedules ran thin. Surely Ron could do the same.

He wasn't home for another hour, but once he was home, she ushered him into the house as he looked at her strangely, "What's gotten into you?" he wondered.

"I just wanted to talk to you, that's all," she told him quickly as she took his coat and his briefcase, throwing it aside as she led him into the living room. She pulled him by the hand to the couch and pulled him down with her.

"Okay, Trish, what is this all about? I'm starving and I wanted to get something to snack on before dinner."

"I think I'm pregnant," she said, just coming forth with it. "Can you believe it!"

"Wow, that's some news," he said, his tone even without the slightest hint of excitement in it."

"We could be parents, isn't that exciting?" she asked, hoping, praying for some kind of positive reaction.

"Yeah, sure, that's really…something," he said, "do you know for sure yet?"

"I thought that we could take the test together," she said.

"Why would I need to be there?" he asked. "It's not like you need help, right? You can pee onto a stick yourself."

"I know that," she said, rolling her eyes, "I meant for emotional support, you know, so that we can find out together and everything. I wanted you to know first."

"Oh, that's great," he told her.

"Do you really think this is great?" she said, glad that he seemed to be coming around to the idea.

"Yes, I think this is a good pet project for you, it'll definitely keep you occupied, and you've been looking for that since you left the company, haven't you?"

"A _pet project_?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. "A child isn't a pet project, Ron, a child is something better than that, it's a blessing!"

"Of course, you've wanted this and now you have it, and it'll be nice to have a kid around.

"You could sound a little more enthused," she accused.

"What do you want me to do, Trish? You don't even know if you are, I mean, you could be basing this on something that isn't true. I haven't even seen you throwing up, isn't that one of the signs?" he asked.

"You're supposed to be happy," she said, refusing to let her eyes water even though she could feel that familiar burn of tears.

"I am, I think this will be good for you."

"It's not just me, Ron, it would be _our_ baby!"

"I know this," he said, "but you'd be the primary caretaker. I've got so much work to do, you know this, and I've been traveling more, getting more responsibilities from the company, and it'll be hard for me to do the day-to-day responsibilities, but it'll be great for you."

"Wait, so basically, this would be me alone? And you doing nothing?"

"Not nothing," he said, rolling his eyes, "but I have to work."

"So? My sister and her husband work and they still take care of Poe, and Stephanie and Chris work like dogs and they still have time for Finn. Stephanie brings him to work just so she can spend the afternoons with him."

"Well, her father owns the company, my father doesn't own the company I work for, so I don't think bringing a baby would be a good idea."

"You know what, fine, if you think this is so great for _me_, I'll just do it alone!" she said, just out and out shocked by his reaction, though she shouldn't have been. He acted like this was a business acquisition and not an actual child. She stomped to her car, grabbing her keys in anger. She drove almost recklessly to the nearest drug store and picked out the first pregnancy test she spotted. When she got home, Ron was in his office and she just couldn't believe him. How could he just act like towards her?

She was starting to wonder if she ever really knew her husband. She had just taken advantage of the fact that he had always been there. She wondered if she was just a trophy wife for him, pretty, great to take to events and show off to the other men in his office, but that was it. She felt like they had no emotional connection. She felt like she had more connection with her parent's dog than she did with Ron in that moment.

She sat on the edge of the bathtub as she waited patiently to find out the news. Her fingers drummed incessantly against the cool porcelain of the free-standing tub. Finally, she could look and she stood up, wishing that she had a husband who would've waited right next to her at the tub. She bet that even her sister's dippy, hippie husband, Edwin had waited with her until they found out the news. She picked up the test with trembling hand and looked down.

It was negative.


	10. Chapter 10

"Thanks for letting me stay here again."

"It's no problem, Trish, you know that," Stephanie told her, showing her to her usual room. "You've been coming down here a lot though, is everything okay back home?"

"Oh yeah, of course," Trish lied, "It's just…Ron travels a lot, so I'm on my own, and it gets really lonely. There's only so much of my sisters that I can take, and spending time with my parents, well, let's just say that their hobbies are light years from what I like to do…so it's just a matter of being lonely."

"Yeah, I remember when I was pregnant with Finny, it was really tough letting Chris go to the shows every week and travel while I sat here, fat and pregnant and with nothing to do…granted, I'm the one who told him to go, but that's beside the point," she chuckled, not noting the wince covering Trish's face.

She was, understandably, still sensitive on the subject of children right now. She had been so excited thinking that she was going to get her own child, someone to take care of and love, and to find out that it wasn't going to happen, that it had never even started in the first place, it hurt more than words could say. Compound that with the fact that her husband hadn't seemed to care, and Trish was not having a good couple of weeks. Things had become even more strained between Trish and her husband, and she knew that it fell on her because she was the one having the problem with him.

"Yeah, I can just imagine," Trish said, hoping that the sadness wasn't evident in her voice.

"Husbands suck sometimes," Stephanie joked, but Trish didn't laugh. "Trish, did I lose you there?"

"Oh, sorry, jet lag, you know," she said, stretching her arms above her head. Yes, husbands did suck a lot of the time, but she figured that Chris was nowhere near as bad as Ron was at the whole marriage thing. Chris had wanted to marry Stephanie for five years, and he had waited and been patient, concocted elaborate plans. Her husband couldn't even get excited about having a baby with her.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Finnegan yelled running through the hallways.

"Finny, don't run upstairs!" Stephanie yelled at him from the room.

Finnegan stopped dead in his tracks and backtracked to the bedroom, poking his head in. "Hi, Trish."

"Hey Finn," Trish said, her first real smile of the day lighting up her face. He came over to her and gave her his usual hug. He knew how much Trish liked his hugs. She blinked back tears at the thought that she could've had this, for a brief moment, she could've had a kid.

"Guess what, Mommy?" Finnegan said, turning to Stephanie.

"Chicken butt," Stephanie answered with a smile.

"No," he said, but laughed all the same. He never got tired of hearing that joke. He bent over a little as he laughed, but then turned serious. "Daddy said that he would teach me how to play the guitar if I wanted to and then, Mommy, we can be together and play, and I can go with Daddy when he plays Fozzy!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Daddy said he's going to teach you to play?" Stephanie asked.

"Uh huh," he nodded. "Because I'm going to be like Daddy when I grow up, Mommy, and Daddy can play the guitar."

"Yeah, but do you like Star Wars?"

"No," he said, shaking his head, "That movie is boring."

"Yeah, I know," she said, kissing his forehead. "But do _you_ want to play the guitar? Because just because Daddy does something doesn't mean that you have to do the exact same thing. You're Finny, not Chris, so you can choose what you want to do."

"I want to," he told her sternly, his lips pursing just the tiniest bit. "Because Mommy, then I can play."

"Well, yeah, you can play--"

"With Daddy," Finnegan reminded her.

"Yes, with Daddy."

"In Fozzy," Finnegan finished.

"Yes, I got that, Finny, baby, but learning to play an instrument can be very long and hard, and I'm not sure you're old enough just yet to learn to play one," she told him gently. He frowned at that, and she knew she was treading on thin ice here because Finnegan was like her, and being told that she couldn't do something only incited her to do it even more.

"I can, Mommy! I'm not little!"

"No, you're not little, sweetheart, no way, you're a big kid," Stephanie agreed, "but you're still young, see the difference?"

"No," he said, furrowing his brow as if he were really trying to think of the difference.

"Hey babe, did Finn tell you the news?" Chris asked, leaning in the doorway. Trish gazed at him, and recognized the look he was giving Stephanie. It wasn't anything special, it was just…it was attention. He was giving Stephanie attention and she didn't even remember the last time that Ron had really paid attention to her.

"Mommy says I can't," Sawyer told him.

"What? Steph, what's the problem?"

"Don't you think he's a little young to be learning an instrument?" she said, feeling Finnegan lean back against her legs. She placed both her hands on his head as she looked at her husband.

"Uh…no," Chris said.

"He's just learning so many other things, I don't want to be one of those parents who insist on getting my child involved in fifty different activities," Stephanie explained. "I don't want him to have Oboe lessons on Monday, tennis on Tuesday, choir on Wednesday, and so forth and so on. I just don't want too much on his plate right now. That's what the Connecticut snobs do with their children, and I'll be damned if I end up like them," she said bitterly, thinking again about that bitch and her harsh words. She would never end up like that, ever.

"It won't take up time, it'll be more like a weekly thing," he said. "I think it'd be cool, and he wants to, don't you, Finn?"

"Yes, Mommy, I do," he said, tilting his head up to look at her.

"Are you just saying that because Daddy wants you to?" she asked him.

"No, Mommy, I do, I want to play," he told her.

She sighed, knowing she was fighting a losing battle. She turned to Chris, "You're the one that puts these ideas in his head, you know? You're the one who does all of this, trying to influence him one way or the other."

"Oh please," Chris said, rolling his eyes, "You do the exact same thing."

"I do not," she protested.

"Hell yeah you do," he responded, "come on Finn, maybe we'll go out and see if we can buy a guitar that's your size so you can learn easier. You want to come, Steph?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, their silly fight broken up instantly. She and Finnegan walked over to Chris and he loosely wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Stephanie turned to Trish, "You want to come too, Trish?"

Trish did not need to see a happy family right now, "No, you guys go ahead, I'm kind of tired, I think I'm going to rest for a little bit."

"Yeah, of course, you know where everything is, we'll see you later. It's Chris's night to cook, and you're making…"

"Ribs, is that cool, Trish?"

"Sounds great, I haven't had that in a long time," she said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Great, later," Chris said.

"Bye, Trish," Stephanie added.

They were walking down the stairs and out the door when Stephanie turned to Chris, "I'm worried about her."

"Why?"

"Don't you wonder why she comes over all the time?" Stephanie said. "I mean, I know it's not because she has designs on stealing you, so there must be another reason for her to be so…away from home. I don't know, I think she's sad or something."

"It's not our place to pry," he reminded her.

"Oh, I know, and I'm not, I'm just worried for my friend."

Meanwhile, Trish lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. This trip hadn't just been to get away from Ron for a while, it had been to get away from Ron, period. She had left him, for good. She just couldn't take it anymore with him. She felt like she was drowning in that marriage, struggling to keep it going when everything kept trying to pull her under. So she had made the only decision that she could make.

She had an even bigger decision that she had made, but she had to wait for that one, just a little while longer. But she had to set the wheels in motion, so she picked up the bedside phone and dialed a familiar number and waited for the other person to pick up on the other end.

"Stephanie, what do you want?" Shane asked as he picked up the phone.

"Sorry, Shane, not Steph, it's Trish."

"Oh sorry, Stephanie's number was on the caller ID and I figured between her and Chris, it was probably Stephanie that was calling me," he said. "Are you over there?"

"Yeah, I'm staying over here for a little while."

"Ron out of town again?" Shane asked.

"Yeah," she said, but it was strained. "Actually, I was hoping that we could meet for a late lunch, or even dinner if you weren't busy. I never get to see you, and it's almost like we're not friends and just know each other through Stephanie."

"That's tragic," he chuckled. "But yeah, I'm free for dinner, if you want to go out tonight. That should be nice, catch up with our lives. You're right, we really only see each other when we're both around Stephanie."

"I know," she said. "Not that I don't love your sister."

"I know," he laughed. "So do you want me to come pick you up or something?"

"I'll come meet you at your place, is that okay?"

"Sure, it's fine," he told her. "I'll see you then, okay?"

"Great, thanks, Shane."

"Bye, Trish."

Trish took a deep breath and was glad that Shane could agree to meet her tonight. She really wanted to speak with him. He was probably the most unbiased person she could think of to speak about her separation from Ron. Her sisters would probably rejoice about it, disliking Ron like they did. Stephanie, well, Stephanie would be the sympathetic friend, but she was so happy with Chris that it pinpricked Trish's heart, and she didn't think she could bear hearing about how good things were with Chris now that they were finally married. She had other friends, but they had varied opinions. Shane was the only person she knew who hardly ever took sides in anything.

Maybe that made him wishy-washy or indecisive, but he had this great perspective over things. He could look at both sides and assess them, and she needed that right now. She needed someone who could see her side of things, tell her that she wasn't crazy, and that maybe things could eventually work out in her favor. It was a scary time for her. She had been with Ron for almost sixteen years at this point, and to never have anyone else, it was scary to lose that.

Stephanie and Chris were disappointed to hear that she wouldn't be joining them, but they understood that they didn't have her under house arrest. She left the happy family and drove over to Shane's house, where he was already waiting outside, which surprised her. He waved and got into the car next to her.

"Hey, thought I'd wait outside since it's pretty nice out."

"Cool, so where do you want to go?"

"I know this great place," he said, and started to give her directions to it.

It wasn't until they were sitting down that they really got down to talking, "So what's up with you, Trish? What's making you tick these days since you don't have wrestling in your life?"

"I left Ron," Trish told him, just coming out and saying it, and it actually felt pretty good. It didn't hurt to say it, it just…it was.

"You left your husband?" Shane said incredulously.

"Yeah, you're the only one that knows, so please don't tell anyone right now," Trish told him. "I just knew that you wouldn't you know, have a really biased opinion and tell me that you're glad that he's out of my life, or think that I'm totally crazy, I just, I needed to tell someone about it. That's really why I'm here."

He nodded, "What happened, Trish? You've been with him forever."

"I know, and that's what makes this whole thing really scary. I've never been with another man, ever," she said, biting her lip. "But we aren't suited for being married. He's always gone, business trips or out with his friends, and he never pays attention to me. He doesn't care about anything that I do, I'm like this burden for him."

"I'm really sorry," Shane said, at a loss for words. He, and everyone else, figured that things were going okay between them. You kind of figure that being together for that long, you'd know how to be in a relationship with the other person.

"It's okay, the last straw was last week," she said. "I thought I was pregnant, I really did, and when I told him, he couldn't care less."

"You're pregnant?" he wondered, thinking that would only complicate things even more.

"No," she said sadly. "I wasn't, it was really hard to find out I wasn't, and Ron thought it was a good thing I wasn't, and that was all I could take. We don't want the same things, we aren't even on the same wavelength. I wanted that baby." She looked off, not meeting Shane's eyes, trying not to cry in front of him. That would just embarrass her. "And then I look at Finn, and Stephanie and Chris didn't even plan kids at the time she got pregnant, but they have this little boy, and I'm so jealous."

"Trish…"

"No, it's okay, no sympathy. Being around Finn makes me feel better. He makes me smile, and I need that right now. I need to know that some people get the things they want in life."

"I get you," he said understanding where she was coming from.

"Shane, we're friends, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Good friends?"

"We've been friends since you entered the company," he finished.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Will you give me a baby?"


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I think people hate this story, oh well, I like it so it continues! Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and reviews are nice if you want to leave one. ;)

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Shane's eyes narrowed and his eyebrows knitted together on his face as he cleared his throat. Then he cleared his throat again because the words were stuck in there. He really felt like there was some fully-formed, intelligent sentence in his throat, ready to be said, but it had come in at such an angle that it was lodged in there. He kept clearing his throat, trying to get that sentence out.

"What?" That was the only thing he managed before the rest of the sentence fell down his throat, lost forever.

"That came out kind of weird," she admitted.

Shane let himself laugh, "Oh okay, because I was going to say, that's a really weird thing to say. I mean, I thought that you were like, asking me to give you a baby like give you a baby in the sense of you know, having a baby."

"Shane, that's what I meant," she said, and there was that sentence again. "I know this is weird, I know this, but if you'll just hear me out."

"Uh…"

"Please?" she pleaded with him, "It'll make sense in a second, I assure you."

"Uh…okay."

"When I thought I was pregnant, it was the best feeling. Thinking that I was going to get a child was the best feeling ever. I've never felt like that before, ever, not with wrestling, not with anything, and then I thought this was going to happen, and it felt so good, Shane."

"Uh yeah, I bet," he said, dumbfounded for what to say to her.

"But I wasn't. Then Ron was a total jackass about it, and I knew that he wasn't the right one for me. But I still wanted a baby, I want a baby, and it's not for any of the selfish reasons that young women want kids for, to have something that'll love you. I don't need someone to love me, I just want to take the love that I have and give it to someone."

"A baby…"

"Yeah, a baby," she said. "I want one. So I decided to have one. I mean, there's nothing in the law that says a woman can't have a baby on her own. So I thought about it for a while, and the thought of some anonymous donor just kind of creeps me out. Here's this guy who I don't know, but I'm letting something of his inside my body, and letting it grow in there."

"Yeah…never been…a fan…" Now Shane was just incoherent.

"So I thought that maybe…I could get someone that I know and that I love to do me the favor."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Shane said, finding the words now. "You think of this as a _favor_? Trish, how could you possibly just think of this as a little favor? Do you know how crazy that sounds? This is a kid."

"I know, bad choice of words. I just want someone I can trust."

"And I'm…it?" he asked, his mouth scrunching up in a weird kind of grimace.

"Well, when I thought about it," she chuckled nervously. "I realized that I don't have a lot of male friends. Ron had male friends, and they were friends to me, I guess, but as for friends independent of him…well, I didn't have too many. In fact, the list is pretty much you and Chris."

"Me and Chris?" Shane repeated quietly.

"And I can't possibly ask Chris to help me out because he has a wife and a son, and he has his own family, and well…I know that you're with Rebecca, and I understand that--"

"Then how in your right mind can you ask me to have sex with you?" he hissed, his eyes darting around to the other patrons, hoping that they weren't listening in on this odd conversation. Hell, he didn't even want to be _in_ this odd conversation.

"Oh, no, no, no, I'm not asking you to have sex with me," Trish told him, shaking her head from side to side. "No, I just want you to kind of…well, you know, donate the necessary components into making me pregnant."

"Wait, you want me to…in a cup…with that?" he asked, his eyes widening almost impossibly large.

"Uh…yeah," she said, trying to make it sound light, when it was anything but light. "I mean, that's all I'd need. I don't…I don't need a father in the child's life. I would take care of everything. I'm fine with being a single mother."

"Trish, I'm sorry, but if I were going to…donate _that_ to you, that would make me that kid's father."

"In blood only," Trish reasoned. "I wouldn't seek out money, this isn't what that's about. I'm not looking to take money from you, if that's what you're worried about."

"What I'm worried about is that I'd have a kid out there that wouldn't even know me as a father. Trish, if I have a kid, I would want to be that kid's father, bar none, you know, I would want to be in my child's life. I mean, look at Chris, he loves Finn, and he's loved Finn from the very first time he saw him. I'm obviously going to see this kid, you're my sister's best friend, how can you ask me not to love him or her?"

"Well, if you wanted to be the father, I'd have no objections to that," she said. "You can be as involved as you want to be. I'm serious, Shane."

"Trish, I can't do that, I can't…do that," he said, "I'm really sorry, but…I just didn't imagine my first kid being…made in a cup, so to speak. I love you, don't get me wrong, you're an awesome person, a great friend, and I love you, but what you're asking me is…it's too much, Trish."

Trish sighed. She knew this could be one of the outcomes. She had steeled herself for it. She was nothing if not resilient. She understood where Shane was coming from. She knew that an emotional attachment could do, and she had known that there would be consequences if this plan was actually going to work out.

"And there's no changing your mind?" she asked, one last, futile attempt.

"I'm sorry, Trish, you understand, right?"

"No, I totally do," she responded, though inside she was totally crushed. "I just thought that I would ask, but it's totally okay that you don't want to, I understand."

"It's just a really tall order, and it's…not something I'd be interested in."

"It's no big deal," she told him, giving him her best smile. It was fake, but she had gotten so good at giving it, he didn't know the difference. "How about we order dessert, on me?"

He laughed, "Yeah, it sounds good."

Trish drove back to Stephanie's house later that night. She walked inside and saw that most of the lights were off except in the living room. She walked in there and saw Stephanie, Chris, and Finnegan on the couch. Finnegan was lying in between Chris and Stephanie, his head on Stephanie's thigh while his legs were thrown over Chris's lap. If her uterus was capable of aching, it was doing so in that moment.

"Hey," Stephanie whispered as she took her eyes off the screen for a second. Trish looked to see that they were watching some animated movie that she didn't recognize. "Have a seat."

"Thanks," she said, not really wanting to be alone in that moment. "What are we watching?"

"_Toy Story 2_," Stephanie explained.

"Shh, Mommy," Finnegan said.

"Yeah, shh, Mommy," Chris copied as Stephanie gave Chris a disgusted look.

"Sorry," she whispered as Trish sat down to watch the movie. It was difficult though as her eyes kept flitting over to the couch where Finnegan was lying down. Stephanie was running her hands through Finnegan's hair every now and then as he shifted around. Whenever he'd shift, Chris would shove at his feet, which made Finnegan kick him. It all just…worked. She saw what Shane saw in that moment. How selfish would it be of her to ask Shane to do something like what she had asked and then take it away from him when he could have something like this with someone he loved? Shane deserved better than that.

The credits began to roll and Finnegan yawned as he turned on his back and looked up at Stephanie. "Did you like the movie, Mommy?"

"Yes, and I liked it the fifty bajillion, trillion, kajillion other times we've watched it," she said playfully, tickling his tummy a bit. Finnegan laughed and sat up.

"But Mommy, it's a good movie."

"One day, I'm going to make you sit through _Gone with the Wind_, and then we'll see how you like it," she told him as he stood on the couch and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Hey, don't put _me_ through that torture," Chris said with a shudder. "So kiddo, you ready to go to bed now?"

"I don't feel like going to bed, Daddy," Finnegan told him. "I want to go play with Cray, can we play with Cray?"

"Oh yeah, you want to play with him?" Chris asked, pointing to the corner, where Cray lay in the basket they had set up with him. "I think he has the right idea, don't you think so, Finn?"

"Okay," he shrugged. "Will you read to me?"

"Sure, what do you want to read?"

"Dr. Suess, please," Finnegan told him as Chris stood up from the couch.

"Say goodnight to Mommy," Chris prompted him.

Finnegan turned to Stephanie and hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Night Mommy, don't let the bedbugs bite."

"Don't let them bite you either, Finny, I love you."

"Love you too," he said as he hopped on Chris's back as they galloped upstairs to get Finnegan ready for bed.

Stephanie turned to Trish and saw her looking really upset. Now Stephanie knew for sure that something was wrong. "Trish, what's going on with you?"

"I left Ron," she said softly, looking down at her hands, the hands that were still wearing her wedding ring and engagement ring. She wanted to take them off and throw them into a fire right now. "I couldn't take it anymore."

"I…I didn't realize things were bad," Stephanie said, confused by this sudden discovery.

"No, they've been strained, he doesn't care about me. We have nothing in common, everything is screwed up and I'm here, alone, and with nobody because I married the wrong guy," she said, a dam of tears breaking. "I screwed up marrying him, and I'm not happy, Steph, I'm so unhappy."

"Oh Trish," Stephanie said, out of her seat in a second to embrace her friend.

Trish let out the tears for all her lost years.

--

"So you would not believe what I got asked last night at dinner," Shane said as he ate breakfast with Rebecca after she had dropped Richard off from school.

"What?" she asked curiously.

Shane thought about it for a moment, but then thought about how embarrassed Trish would be if someone else knew what she had asked. He was over it now, knowing that Trish was just upset about her separation. If he had separated from a woman he had been with for fourteen years, he might want a kid to curb the loneliness too. He might've even considered it if he didn't have Rebecca, but he loved her, and he just couldn't do that to her.

"Damn it, I just remembered what I wanted to say to that, and now it's gone, I guess it wasn't that funny."

"Oh, okay," she said, not noting anything wrong.

"Hey, do you think you'd ever want more kids?"

"Wow, what?"

"Just a general question, not an invitation or request or anything. My friend is just going through a rough time and well, thought that a kid might help ease the stuff, but you know, like, I was just wondering."

"Sure, if it was the right time, right guy, right…everything," she said. "But I mean, yeah, sure."

"After your divorce, was Richie a comfort to you?"

"Oh God yes, he was like, the light of my life, still is, still the reason I'm where I'm at and not drinking or something," she laughed.

Shane was starting to feel worse about denying Trish's request, but he had made the right decision. The right man would come along for her, and then she'd have a kid by a man who was just a friend. That was the rational way of thinking and Shane was nothing if not rational. But it still made him feel bad just to deny her something she always wanted. But no, this was Ron's fault if anything.

Maybe he could just be a better friend to her, make sure that he was there for her, and maybe convince her to tell Stephanie and Chris, if they didn't know already, if she hadn't told them. And her sisters had to know. Trish needed to know she had a support group around her, people who cared about how she was, and where she was going.

A child would solve nothing.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys, I really appreciate them for this story. Anyways, if you read any of my other stories, I've decided, since it's summer and all, that I'm just going to start updating whenever I feel like it so be on the lookout for updates. Enjoy the chapter. :)

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"Did you hear about Trish?"

"What about her?" Chris asked as he sat backstage with Shane. "Is this about her and Ron?"

"Yeah," Shane said. "So she told you about it?"

"Sort of, she told Stephanie, and Stephanie told me, I don't see how Trish could think that she wouldn't tell me, so I guess Trish knows," Chris explained. "But yeah, that's rough, those two have been together for a long time."

"She wasn't happy though," Shane said as he took a sip of his coffee. Chris looked over at him for a second, wondering why Shane was acting like such an authority on the subject. He wasn't aware that they were even really close.

"You sure seem to know a lot on the subject," Chris told his brother-in-law.

"Well…we went out to dinner, as you know," Shane said, swallowing hard. He had to talk to someone about what Trish had said, and since he couldn't talk to his girlfriend about it, and if he talked about it with his sister, she would go straight to Vince, he thought the man he had come to know of as a brother would help him sort out all these weird feelings that he was having over the subject.

"Yeah, so, she told you about what happened with her and Ron…before she told Steph? Wow, that's pretty surreal," Chris said. "I thought she was better friends with Steph."

"She is, she just…man, I don't even know how to talk about this, it's so weird, and I feel weird about just telling you, but I can't…I don't think that I can keep it to myself, you know."

"Yeah, now you're just weirding me out," Chris chuckled as he looked out into the darkness in front of him. "Take your time, though, man, whatever you have to say, I'm right here, and you know me, we're like brothers."

"We pretty much are brothers, you're a part of my family," Shane said, still not ready to talk about what Trish had asked of him, and what he was starting to feel about the subject. It was all very muddled in his mind, and the entire situation, his conversation with Trish, it had all been almost like a blur of sorts.

"True, that's true," Chris nodded. "You're lucky I'm not on until the end of the show, or else you'd really have no time to get ready what you need to say."

"The show hasn't even started yet, I don't think I'll need _that_ much time," Shane said, forcing a laugh. "Okay, so do you promise to be objective, and act as a friend and not like this is something funny, because if you laugh, I'm not going to tell you anything, I swear to God."

"Dude, let me preface by saying if this has anything to do with you in the bedroom with Becca, then we are just not going to have this conversation at all. We're family, I consider you a brother, but if you're having trouble with…_that_, then I don't even want to hear about it," Chris warned him. He loved Shane, but he didn't want to hear about his love life.

"No, _no_," Shane said, shaking his head profusely. "Trust me, there's nothing wrong in that department, let me assure you."

"Okay, the conversation is out of control," Chris shuddered. "We'll forget that it was even a topic of discussion, so what did you really want to talk about?"

"It's about Trish," Shane said. "Something she…asked of me."

"She asked you something? What could she possibly want from you…oh wait, is this to come back? Because if that's the case, Stephanie is going to be so happy, she's been really disappointed with the women's division and she would definitely welcome back Trish."

"It has nothing to do with that, would you just let me talk, geez."

"Sorry," Chris said contritely. "Go ahead."

"She asked me for a baby," he explained, finally. He took a deep breath and then looked over at his brother-in-law, who was narrowing his eyes. He looked down and then looked at his brother-in-law, very confused at what he was saying.

"She asked you for a baby? Like…to buy a baby?"

"Yes, Chris, she asked me to buy her a baby," Shane rolled his eyes and shook his head. "She wanted me to give her a baby, you know _give_ her a baby."

"Wait, Trish wanted to have _sex_ with you!" Chris exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock. "Dude, I knew that she had left Ron, but…oh my God, she left Ron for you! You were the reason, she's in love with you!"

"Honestly, I don't know, she might, I have…but no, I don't think she's in love with me, she just wanted my help with having a baby. She wanted me to be the donor."

"Hold on, she wanted you to basically, you know, in a cup and then have that be the catalyst for a baby?" Chris asked incredulously. What the hell happened with his friends when he wasn't paying attention?

"Yeah, that's exactly it."

"Wow," Chris said because he had no other words at the moment, "wow."

"I know," Shane said, "I mean, that's crazy right, it's like, what if some friend of yours asked you to donate your…stuff, to have a baby that you would have no part in? I just don't think that it…it's just…I mean, it's strange right, the entire concept is strange."

"Hell yeah it is," Chris said, thinking about the consequences of such an action. "And she said that you didn't need to be there for her?"

"Yeah, I mean, after I said that I wouldn't want to have this kid running around that wasn't in my life, she said that I could be as involved as I wanted to be, but still…"

"I get what you mean," Chris said. "I'm thinking right now what would've happened if I knew that Finn was out there, but he wasn't mine to be a father to, and that's a really horrible feeling. If you have a kid, I don't know, I couldn't just up and let the woman do it by herself. When Stephanie told me that she was pregnant, I wanted to run, I know this, but then, when I really thought about it, I knew I wanted that kid."

"Exactly, if I knew that she was pregnant with my child, regardless of how it got in there, I would want to be a part of this kid's life, I wouldn't be able to just sit back and pretend that I didn't care."

"Yeah, it's hard, you would have to live knowing that you had a kid out there that you had no interaction with. I think now what my life would've been like had I left Stephanie that night, had I decided that having a kid was just too hard, and it's not a good vision. I don't want to think of what would've happened if I had left that night and never come back."

"I told her I couldn't do it, that I just couldn't pretend like this was just a small favor for her or something. I'm not that kind of man that can just detach himself from that kind of situation. So I told her that I couldn't do it."

"I understand," Chris responded. "I couldn't do it either, it's a very tall task."

"I know, and I just…she's…see, here's the thing," Shane said, clearing his throat.

"What?"

"I feel really bad, and all she wants is someone to love, and she doesn't have that right now…"

"Shit, no, Shane, please don't tell me that you're actually considering this," Chris said, looking over at his brother-in-law critically. "How could you even possibly be thinking this over? It's crazy!"

"I know that, but I just feel sorry for her."

"That's still no reason to give her a baby."

"No, I know that," Shane told him. "I know that's it's really stupid, but I just felt so bad afterwards thinking about how lonely she must be. She left her husband because they had nothing in common with each other, and she's just really upset."

"Shane, do you even know what it's like to have a kid?" Chris asked rhetorically. "It's hard, it is really, really hard. Plus, it's life-changing. You saw how Stephanie and I were before Finn was born. We were out every night until at least two in the morning, we were all over the place, doing whatever we wanted. The second that we found out about Finn, everything changed, and it had to change. Having a child is not easy work, it is hard, and it's every day; you have to worry about someone every day for the rest of your life."

"I know."

"And kids can be annoying as hell. I love my son, but when he was a baby, I wanted to give him back. I loved him, don't get me wrong, but he annoyed the crap out of me."

"But you love him now."

"Yes, of course I do, but Shane, you can't just get off in a cup, have it put in Trish, and just be done with it. You have to be _ready_ to have a kid. If you aren't ready, it's really hard to adjust sometimes. With Finn, man, everything changed."

"Still, you love him."

"Yeah, I do."

"I'm not going to take her up on it, I was just…thinking about it, you know. I feel bad for her; she's going through such a rough time, I'm just worried that she's going to break down at some point."

"And you giving her a kid is just going to magically solve everything?"

"No, no, I know that, I'm not going to do it," he said, looking over at Chris, "I'm not!"

"It's not your place to take care of her," Chris said, patting his shoulder before pulling himself to his feet. "I've got to go because I promised Stephanie that I would eat dinner with her and Finnegan and I don't know what time she actually wants to eat. But seriously, Shane, I mean, if this was something that you really wanted, something you knew you were ready for, Steph and I would support you whole-heartedly, but I don't think it's what you want."

"You're right," Shane said. "Thanks for the advice."

"Thanks for the company," Chris nodded as he wandered back inside. Just when he thought that his life was settling down, Shane had to spring this on him. Granted, it wasn't directly about him, but it affected his family, his entire family. He couldn't believe that Shane would think, for even a second, that he should have a baby with Trish.

When Stephanie had gotten pregnant, at least he had been in love with her, and they had been in a relationship. That relationship had sustained itself for years afterward and then had culminated in a marriage. If Shane did give Trish his _donation_, what did that even make them? How would you ever explain that to a child? Maybe, maybe if Shane and Trish had had a prior relationship with each other, maybe they could spin that, but they had never even been together. Wouldn't that just confuse a child? He and Stephanie had always been pretty upfront about to Finnegan about the fact that they weren't married. The little boy had come to understand that his parents had a different relationship, but it wasn't hard for him to adjust because they still were together. Even if they weren't together, which they weren't for a little while there, even then, they had been in a committed relationship prior to that point. Shane and Trish weren't anything.

Stephanie, meanwhile, was staring at Finnegan as he spoke with one of the stagehands who was explaining to him how the pyros worked as they set them up. Finnegan was nodding along with everything that they said. Stephanie, who had taken him out there so she could check on ring being set up, was watching with consternation at the exchange. What little boy did these kinds of things, she asked herself. It wasn't normal, and her life with Finnegan wasn't normal. His fifth birthday was coming up in the next week, and he didn't even have what remotely looked like a normal life.

"Mommy, can I have pyros at my birthday party?" Finnegan asked as he ran over to Stephanie. "Please."

"You know you can't, Finny, where are we going to put them?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "In the backyard?"

"And start a fire, I don't think so," she told him, ruffling his hair. "Besides, the entire party isn't going to be at our house, we scheduled it so that we could take you and all your friends to a show and you can sit out here and watch it with all your friends, that's what you wanted to do."

"Oh yeah," he said as if he had forgotten. "Okay, then."

"Indeed," she said. She reminded herself that Finnegan was a smart, thoughtful kid and better than anyone she had in her life. She picked him up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which he promptly wiped off comically. "Hey, I can kiss you whenever I want to, I'm your mommy."

"I know," he told her, "but you're wearing that stuff on your lips and it gets on my face, and I don't like it."

She laughed and set him down again, "Want to go find Daddy?"

"Okay," he told her, grabbing her hand. "Is it almost dinner, Mommy, because I'm hungry, can I have a snack?"

"I think I some graham crackers in my office," she told him as they went backstage. Finnegan didn't know this particular arena so he waited for Stephanie to show him the way around. When they got back to Stephanie's office, they saw that Chris was already there and Stephanie smiled at him as she got the graham crackers for Finnegan, handing them to the boy before he climbed onto the couch next to his father.

"Hi, Daddy, I learned about the pyros."

"Interesting," Chris told his son, "what did you learn?"

"They can time them to go off," he told his father, "and they can be dangerous so little boys shouldn't play with things that are explo-uh, what's the word, Mommy?"

"Explosive," she filled in for him.

"That's right, explosive," he repeated. "And he told me that if you aren't careful, you can lose your fingers! Daddy, have you ever known anyone who lost their finger?"

"No, but next time Mick comes around, ask to look at his ear," Chris said.

"Why?" Finnegan asked. He liked Mick Foley. He was really nice to him, and funny, and he had a funny voice, and he carried around a sock sometimes, which Finnegan thought was the most hilarious thing in the world.

"He has no ear," Chris said ominously.

Finnegan's eyes widened in terror, "He has no…ear? Daddy, are you lying?"

"No, I'm not, ask him next time you see him, he'll show you."

"But…but what happened to it?" he asked frightfully.

"It got ripped off during a match he had a long time ago," Chris explained. Finnegan's eyes got even wider at the word ripped, that was just the scariest thing, maybe even scarier than The Undertaker.

"Chris, stop it," Stephanie told her husband. "He doesn't need to know about those things, just let him enjoy his wrestling and don't put the fear of God into the little boy, geez, that's just wrong."

"What!" he protested, "That's how it happened, and you know it."

"Yes, I know it, but come on," she said, only thinking that she was corrupting her little boy even further. He didn't need to know about the dangerous side of wrestling right now. He was only four-years-old, well, five next week, but still, that was too young to hear about ripped off ears, or missing teeth, or torn quads or what have you. She was only thankful that Chris's war stories were limited to one or two incidents, and Finnegan already knew what that huge scar on Chris's forearm was.

"Okay, sorry," he said, "You'll hear about it when you're older, Finn."

"Like next week, Daddy, because I'm going to be five," he said proudly, holding up his fingers. "That's a whole hand."

"I know, you're an old fart," he joked.

Finnegan laughed and asked, "Can I watch TV?"

"Yeah, sure, knock yourself out," Chris said, handing Finnegan the dial that was on the coffee table in front of them. He gave it to Finnegan after turning on the TV for him. Finnegan flipped through the stations until he came to the Cartoon Network, and satisfied, settled in with his graham crackers and his TV. Chris got up and walked over to Stephanie, who was looking at her work with an air of annoyance. "Don't tell me that got your panties in a bunch."

"You just shouldn't tell him those things and scare him."

"It doesn't scare him," Chris said, rolling his eyes, "Steph, come on, it's just for fun. I mean, it's not like he's a wrestler."

"He might want to be one, one day," she said. "He already wants to be you when he grows up."

"Uh, hate to break it to you, sweetheart, love of my life, but _you're _the one who wanted him to be a wrestler, you're the one who implanted _that_ idea in his brain," Chris reminded her and she cursed under her breath because it was true.

"Whatever," she said, not having a good response to that as Chris chuckled. She glared up at him, "It's not funny, you know. I mean, look at him, he shouldn't even be here."

"Well, he's always here, plus, we're in New York tonight, it's only a short drive back home, it's not like we dragged him across the country this evening," he said. "It's not even a big deal."

"Not that, _here_, at the show, at any show. I mean, I grew up around wrestlers, and look how screwed up I am."

"See, you say you're screwed up and I just don't see it," he said, shaking his head. "Your father, yes, he's screwed up, very much so, _very_ much so. Your mother, good head on her shoulders, very grounded, Shane, a little on the workaholic side, but normal, you, let's see, married, has a family, good job that you're excellent at, nope, normal."

"I'm not normal."

"You just don't want to _be_ normal, you don't want to classify that for yourself. Lots of people have jobs that make them travel all the time. Some people travel for weeks, months at a time for a job, you've cut back your schedule immensely since we had Finnegan. Steph, face it, you are just one among the masses."

She sighed, "Then why don't I feel that way?"

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, then down even further and kissed her gently on the mouth. "Because that's not what other people see. They see WWE and automatically think that you're a screwball, but you're not."

"I don't want people thinking my son is…trouble just because of where he comes from," she admitted. "It scares me that he's going to be stereotyped because of the environment he's around. You're a wrestler, I write everything for the wrestlers, come up with storylines and the like, and we're projecting onto him."

"If people can't see that our son is his own person, and a really special and awesome person at that, then they're not worth our time," Chris said. "There are far worse parents out there who hit their kids or punish them severely, and _those_ are the people that are screwed up. So we take our son with us on our trips, so do celebrities with their kids. We're not letting some nanny raise him. We don't have CPS on our asses for how we take care of him. If people think that we're bad parents, well fuck them, we're great parents and the proof of that is just looking at our son."

"You're right, there are worse parents out there," she said, leaning on his knees as she looked up at him. "I just…sometimes people talk."

"Well, we live in a very superficial community," he said, wrinkling his nose a little bit. "Which is why I still assert that we should've moved down to _my_ place in Florida. Nobody would've of given a shit what the hell we were doing down there, but someone _has_ to work in their office in Connecticut."

"You're the one that got me pregnant," she said with a laugh, "you wouldn't have had to move if you hadn't done that."

"Nah," he said, going in for another kiss, tilting his head a little to deepen it as Stephanie rubbed his knee, "I still would've moved up there to be with you, kid or no kid."

She rolled her eyes, but liked the sentiment, "So where were you?"

"I was walking down the hall and was ambushed by your brother."

"Ambushed?"

"He had something important to talk to me about."

"Oh, is this one of your little, 'let's pig out on junk food' things, because you do have a match later when the show starts, and I don't want you to be lethargic, you're our champion, Chris, so save the junk food for when you're not on the clock," she chastised.

"No, it wasn't like that at all, he had a cup of coffee, and I had some water, but that's it. He was having a crisis, he wanted my advice."

"Is this about Becca? Are they breaking up?"

"It was about Trish…uh…how much did Trish tell you about her dinner with Shane?" Chris asked, treading forward lightly because it was possible that Stephanie had no clue at all what Trish had brought up with Shane. If that was the case, Chris would be very hesitant to even tell Stephanie because he didn't know if this was confidential.

"Not much, just that they wanted to talk, why? Oh my God, is she in love with Shane?" Chris had to smile at that. He and Stephanie were sometimes just really on the same wavelength about things. He contemplated whether or not to tell her, but then decided against it because it wasn't his place to reveal this kind of information, wife or no wife. Trish was Stephanie's best friend, and she had to be the one to tell her.

"No, it was just mostly about her and Ron, Shane just wanted to know how much support was enough support," Chris lied, and it didn't bother him to lie. Trish would obviously tell Stephanie, he was sure of this, besides, he'd probably forget about this soon anyways since it didn't have to do with him. It was like out of sight, out of mind for him.

"Oh, yeah, that's really rough," she said, grabbing his hand. "I'm glad that we have things to talk about."

He laughed, "Maybe too much to talk about." She yawned, "Okay, maybe not enough, I didn't know my conversation could put you to tears."

"No, it's not that," she said, yawning against as she covered her mouth. "I've been working too hard I think, too many late nights, I've just been exhausted for the past couple of days, like just this huge wave of exhaustion."

"Well, you have been working really late at night," he said. "Yeah, I know, it's my fault. I've been worrying myself over this whole, 'are we corrupting Finny,' thing. I'll take some early days off to combat it."

"Good, and sleep in for once, for God's sakes."

"That's just because you want me there to warm up the bed."

"No, I want you there to warm up _me_," he winked noticing her mood changing before her eyes. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling better."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thanks for the reviews to the people who are reading this story. I really like it so I don't know, maybe other people just aren't big Shane/Trish fans? Lol, anyways, this chapter is pretty long, but I hope you enjoy it and review if you wish. :)

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"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!"

"Finnegan Aaron Irvine, what the hell?" Stephanie said irritably. She pulled the covers over her again. Finnegan pulled them down again and giggled as he saw his mommy's mussed-up hair. Stephanie groaned and pulled Finnegan up into the bed and opened one eye to look at him. "Finny, go to sleep, you can stay in here, or go to your room, but go to bed!"

"But Mommy…" Finnegan whined.

"What is going on?" Chris said, poking his head out, his hair sticking up too as he was had one eye squeezed shut and the other one opened a little bit to see what was going on, on the other side of the bed.

"Finny is here."

"Finn, go to bed," Chris told his son.

"But Daddy…Mommy, I'm five!" Finnegan said excitedly as he climbed over Stephanie and settled into the middle of the bed, pulling the covers down a little and climbing into his bed. "It's my birthday."

"I'm well aware of when your birthday is, Finny, I was the one that gave birth to you," Stephanie said. "But your birthday is not right now, it's still too early to be celebrating your birthday, it's only five in the morning, Finny, give us a break."

"But it's my birthday," he whimpered.

"I know," Stephanie said, grabbing him around his small waist and pulling him towards her, "but give us some time to sleep up so we can party like crazy later. I'm going to keep you up all night for a party."

"Mommy," Finnegan giggled as he settled in against his mother.

"I think Daddy fell back asleep," Stephanie whispered to her son as Finnegan continued to giggle happily.

"I'm not asleep. I can't sleep when there are two people chattering on and on while I'm trying to sleep," Chris said, burying his head back into his pillow. "It's so early, you guys, can you just be quiet?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Stephanie said as they settled back into bed.

Meanwhile, Shane was already getting ready for work. He didn't usually go to work this early, but then, he didn't usually go to the shows on Mondays, only occasionally traveling with the company to oversee something or another, or just attend the show. Tonight, though, was his nephew's fifth birthday party, and he wouldn't miss that for the world. So he was going in early today to get his work finished early. Since Finnegan was still in pre-school, he only went to daycare for half-days, so the party was starting in the afternoon and he wanted to be there for his nephew. Plus Rebecca was going to be there as well, so that was another incentive.

He had thought about telling his girlfriend about Trish's proposal and time and time again his head shot that idea down. He really cared about Rebecca and wanted to be honest with her, but there was really nothing to be honest about since he wasn't going to go through with what Trish asked. Or at least he thought he wasn't going to. Okay, no, he wasn't going to. He wasn't going to put anyone through that, and it was weird.

Chris was right when he said it would've been less weird had he had a relationship with Trish at some point, but since they hadn't, it was weird, this _depositing_ of bodily fluids in order to make a baby. He'd want to be in that child's life, and he just couldn't see a way for him to do that without people thinking it was strange, or without Rebecca leaving him, or his family chastising him. He sighed and continued to get ready.

"Hey, welcome you guys," Stephanie said as she opened the door to Shane and Rebecca. Richie was a bolt as he went to go find Finnegan in all the madness. "It's nice to have a couple of adults to balance things out."

"I know," Rebecca said as she walked inside. "I've had to do the birthday party thing too."

Stephanie laughed, "So it's us, and then Chris, Ted, and Trish are here as well, and my parents should be arriving soon. It's a good thing too, I'm already exhausted and it hasn't even been an hour, it's probably because Finny decided to wake us up at five this morning to announce that it was his birthday."

"He's a little kid, what are you going to do?" Shane said as they walked inside. They could hear laughing and yelling from the outside and Stephanie led them out to the patio where the kids were running around the grass and playing with each other, having a grand time as Chris sat around with Trish making sure none of them got near the pool. "So how are you going to handle them tonight at the show?"

"Well, Chris's dad is going to sit with them, and then Becca, you volunteered too, right?"

"Yeah, it's not a problem at all, Steph," Rebecca said. "I know that you can't exactly sit out there with them, and I can, it's not a big deal."

"And I thank you again. But we should be covered, there's only six of them, not including Declan and Kenny, I had to limit how many people he invited since it's not as easy as you'd think getting that many tickets since we get requests for VIP tickets all the time."

"I bet," Rebecca said. "I'm going to go say hi to Chris."

That left Shane and Stephanie alone and she went over to the table filled with snack foods as Shane followed her. Chris was with Trish at the moment and he still felt a little uncomfortable about the whole thing, especially because he knew how sad she must feel and how lonely, and Shane hated to see people like that. When Stephanie and Chris had broken up, he had wanted to do everything in his power to get them back together because he couldn't take his nephew being upset, and he couldn't take his sister or Chris being upset. He liked everything to be in balance; that was just the way that he liked his life to be.

"Do you need any help with anything?" Shane asked.

"I think I'm good," Stephanie said, then sat down and yawned. "I swear the next time that kid wakes me up that early, I'm going to lock him in his room or something and make him go to be there, I'm so tired."

"Why don't you go take a nap? We can handle things down here."

"I'm okay," she said, then yawned again. "But man, I'm exhausted. Works been wearing me ragged since I missed that week for my honeymoon with Chris, I feel like I'm constantly a week behind in my work, and I've been staying late and then you know, Finny isn't exactly getting any less boisterous."

"Steph, you're killing me here, go lie down or something, you work too hard for anyone, let alone someone with a five-year-old son," Shane told her. "We can handle things down here for an hour or two while you catch a few Z's. Go, and that's an order from your older and wiser brother."

"Fine, fine, fine," she said, kissing his cheek. "I'll be upstairs if anyone needs me, and I'm sure pretty soon, someone is going to need me."

Shane decided that he couldn't just stand there acting like he was a wallflower. He made his way over to the other adults, hearing Rebecca saying something that was making Chris laugh uproariously. Trish was more subdued, smiling politely. She looked much older than her years at that moment, and the guilt was rising up in him again. He could've given her everything, and he felt back that he couldn't give her anything.

"Hey guys," Shane said to everyone.

"Where's Steph?" Chris inquired of his wife.

"She was tired since Finn woke you guys up so early, so I told her to go take a nap."

"Oh good, she needs one," Chris said. "She's been working too hard, I think she takes on the job loads of six people. She needs to take it easy once in a while. If you'll excuse me though, I'm just going to go check on her."

Chris went upstairs to his bedroom and found that Stephanie was lying down on her side. Chris went over and sat facing her as she turned on her back. She smiled up at him and he came over and lay down behind her, pulling her against him as they lay there in silence for a few moments, hearing the high-pitched laughter of the children in the backyard wafting up into their bedroom, an occasional yell and then sometimes even a warning from one of the adults.

"Shane said you were tired."

"Yeah," she told him. "Everything is just kind of hectic today, I've been trying to make this a really great birthday for Finny. Can you believe this is the first birthday he's ever had with us married?"

"I don't think he really cares," Chris said. "Nothing's changed for him."

"I know, I just…"

"Yeah, I got it," he said. "So you want me to leave you to nap?"

"You don't have to."

"I feel bad about leaving them all down there when it's our kid's birthday, so I'll let you get some rest," he said, kissing her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too," she told him.

Chris went back downstairs to join the party and enjoy his son's fifth birthday. Finnegan was having a great time with his friends, running around and being the little kid that he was. He looked over at Trish who was quietly sipping her iced tea, watching all the little boys running around. She looked sad and he thought briefly to her failed marriage. It was never fun to fail at anything, and he couldn't imagine what it would be like to fail at a marriage. He was lucky with Stephanie. He figured if he had some wife that wasn't in the business it would be the same. He wouldn't know how to talk to her. He was very thankful for Stephanie.

He got up and went over to her, patting her on the shoulder, "Hey, Trish, you okay?"

"Oh yeah," she said, putting her best smile on. "It's a fun day."

"Yeah, it is," Chris said. "Sometimes I can't believe that my son is actually five. Seriously, I still feel like Stephanie has just told me that she's pregnant and I'm thinking about what my fastest escape route is and if Vince is going to fire me."

"Yeah, I remember when you guys told everyone and everyone was just shocked, you kind of looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but you grew into it," she told him kindly. "I know that you love him."

"I do," Chris said, looking at his son, "I don't think I ever could've really left."

"Of course you wouldn't, that's not the kind of man that you are," Trish told him. "You're not the kind of man who would do that to a woman, you're a stand-up guy."

"I like to think so," Chris said, squeezing Trish's shoulder supportively. "If you need anything though…don't hesitate to ask, okay."

"Okay," Trish said, knowing that if Chris were single, she probably would've asked him too if he would make a donation towards her cause so to speak. Chris probably would've said no too though, he and Shane were very much alike, which was why they got along so well, even before Chris and Stephanie had started dating. He would want to be involved in his kid's life too, maybe even more so than Shane, knowing how Chris was with his own son.

"Hey, you guys, I forgot to get something at the store, so I'm going to make a quick store run," Stephanie said from the door to the house.

"What did you forget?" Ted asked.

"I don't have any candles for the cake," Stephanie said, "I'm just going to go grab some before we bring out the cake and there are no candles for him to blow out."

"Don't we have one that says '5' on it?" Chris asked.

"I don't think so, I think we did two years ago when you turned 35, but I don't think that we have had any," Stephanie said, laughing at Chris, who looked a little sheepish. "I'll be really quick."

"Do you want me to go?" Shane asked.

"No, it's fine, Shane," Stephanie said, giving him a smile. "I'll be quick, the store is really close by."

Stephanie was out the door before anyone could ask any more questions and they shrugged and went back to their conversations. Trish still felt like she was on the outside looking in and she decided to go gorge herself in the snack foods that were sitting on the table near the door. She got up and went over and started grabbing some food and putting it on the small plate she was holding.

"Hey, Trish," Shane said quietly as he came over to the table, picking up some chips, but not making any attempt to actually eat them.

"Oh, hey," Trish said uncomfortably. The one thing she hadn't realized when she had decided to ask Shane was that if he should turn her down, it was going to create an instant awkwardness in their friendship and she could feel it happening already. This was always going to be hanging over their heads and it was probably never going to get better. She was never going to retain the same repertoire she had with Shane, and that made her even sadder.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine," he said succinctly and with firmness. "I know this for a fact, so don't try to bullshit me."

"Okay, so I'm not fine," she said with a sigh. "But I'll _be_ fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I'm still really sorry about everything."

"I know, and you shouldn't worry about it. What I was asking of you was a huge thing and I don't blame you for not wanting to get involved. A child is huge, and I get that."

"Have you told anyone else about this, about the false pregnancy thing?"

"Just my sister," she said. "And no, I haven't told Stephanie, eventually I will, I just, I kind of don't want to talk about it, you know. I was so excited about it, and then it didn't happen, it was a definite blow, but also a blessing I guess. I didn't want a baby with Ron. I just want…I want a clean break from him."

"You'll find someone," he told her. "And you won't have a baby by some other guy that hinders you. You'll find someone that deserves you. Life is too short to just waste it on one douchebag that you married."

She smiled, "Thanks for being so nice about this, Shane. I just, I didn't know who else to turn to, and you could've been a real jerk about it."

"I could've, but that's not me, you know that," Shane said. "So you going to be okay for the rest of the evening?"

"Yeah, I should be fine," she said, snacking some more to try and not think about how pathetic her life had become.

A half an hour later and Chris was going inside the house looking for his wife, who was just putting the finishing touches on the cake, laying out the candles one by one before she lit them all and brought out the cake. She had said she was only going to take a few minutes, but she had taken much longer and he had come in to see her progress because the kids were all quiet and waiting for the cake.

"Sorry," she said, taking out the lighter and lighting the candles. "My mind was elsewhere."

"Where would that elsewhere be?" Chris asked as he lifted up the cake.

Stephanie looked at him and gave him a crooked smile that he couldn't quite place the emotion of, "Nowhere, it's just, our son is turning five, you know, and it's crazy how far we've come in those five years, in the time before he was born even."

"I know," Chris said as she followed him outside. "But for right now…Happy Birthday to you…"

"Mommy, it was so much fun watching everyone out there, and Daddy wrestled and he won, and my friends liked that," Finnegan said as Stephanie tucked him into bed. He was still a little hyper from the sugar and the adrenaline of the show that he and his friends had attended that evening.

"I'm glad they liked that, Finny, did you have a good time too?"

"Uh huh," Finnegan told her as he laid down on and let Stephanie pull the covers over him. "I'm going to be just like Daddy, right, Mommy?"

"Yes you are," she said, kissing his forehead, "but for right now, it's time to go to bed because you've had a very busy day today. How does it feel being five?"

"Good, and how is it being…how old are you, Mommy?"

"In my thirties."

"How does that feel?"

"Pretty good," Stephanie said. "So let's get some shut-eye and then tomorrow, I'm going to tell you a big secret."

"Really?" Finnegan's eyes got wide. "What, what?"

"I can't tell you now, you need to go to sleep, but I'll tell you in the morning."

"Okay," he sighed, "Love you, Mommy."

"I love you too, Finny, did you tell Daddy you loved him?"

"Yup, and he said that he only loves four-year-olds so I was out of luck," Finnegan told her.

"Wow, I'm going to have to have a talk with Daddy about that one, that was quite mean of him, I think, I'll be sure to tell him that wasn't very nice," Stephanie said good-naturedly.

"It's okay, Mommy, I told him that being five is better than being four and he said that he guesses that he could love a five-year-old, and that's how old I am now."

"Well then, maybe I won't have to talk to him, night, Finny."

"Night."

Stephanie got up and turned off the light, making sure his hockey nightlight was on before closing the door partially. She smiled to herself and went down the hallway to her bedroom where Chris was lounging on the bed. She looked to the screen and saw that he was watching hockey and she smiled wistfully. She winked at Chris and he smiled as he watched her get ready for bed, taking off her clothes slowly and pulling on her pajamas before going to brush her teeth and wash her face and then do all the girly stuff she needed to do before bed. When she was through, she climbed into bed with him and snuggled up to his side.

"So the kids had a good time," Stephanie said.

"I know, they looked like they were having a blast during my match," Chris said as he ran his fingers through Stephanie's hair.

"Hockey, huh?"

"Yeah," he said as they fell into a comfortable silence. Chris kept watching the game, "Oh, are you kidding me? Another goal, this is getting depressing, they had a 3-1 lead and now you're blowing it, you're blowing it!"

"Chris…"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to yell, I don't think Finn heard me."

"I'm pregnant," she told him.

"What, I'm sorry…"

"I'm pregnant," she said again. She looked at him and his eyes were wide as he kept staring at the television in front of him. Other than that, his face was expressionless, and she was hoping for some other kind of reaction from him.

"You said you were pregnant, right?" he asked, stupidly.

"Yeah, it's not confirmed, but…today, when I was lying down, it all started to make sense, and I honestly didn't think I was, but I figured, what the hell, I should go out and check, right, so that's where I went, we had candles, I went out to buy a pregnancy test, but I didn't want to take away from Finny's birthday so I kept it to myself, I mean, I didn't take the test until we got home, and I kept it in the downstairs bathroom, and yeah, when you were giving Finn his bath, that's what I was doing, and yeah, I'm pregnant, I mean, I need to get an appointment and check, but it makes sense."

"Didn't you _just_ get off the pill?"

"Yeah, but I guess I'm fertile," she responded, this not exactly being the way she thought he'd respond and it was troubling her. In fact, this kind of felt like the first time all over again.

"How are you feeling?"

"Just tired, you know, exhausted easily," she said. "I missed my period, but I didn't think anything of it since I just got off the pill, and it takes time to get back to a normal cycle. Plus, I've been working hard, so I didn't think…Chris, tell me what you're thinking, please. We wanted this, right?"

"I'm just…this is huge."

"I know," she said. "It took me completely by surprise. I took the test on a whim, really."

"Yeah, um, can you excuse me for a second?" Chris asked.

"Chris, where are you going?" Stephanie said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Just…excuse me for a second," he said, leaving the room.

Stephanie wanted to cry. It was bad enough her hormones were out of whack now, but Chris had just left her, for real this time. Last time at least he had looked back and come back to her. What the hell kind of reaction was this? He wasn't going to leave her over this…was he? No, they had a son already, they were married now, it was different. So why did it feel so much worse than it had the last time? Why was she actually sitting all alone this time when she hadn't even been alone last time? She didn't want to cry over a pregnancy again, but she felt like she was on the verge of tears right now. How could Chris do that to her? To them?

He showed up a moment later, Finnegan in his arms as he climbed back into bed, laying Finnegan beside him. The little boy hadn't yet fallen asleep and he was looking up at his parents curiously. Stephanie didn't know what Chris was doing, but at least he was back here. He smiled at her and then bit his lip.

"Tell me again."

"Chris…"

"This is a family thing and everyone should hear it," Chris said, prodding her along.

She understood now, "I'm going to have a baby."

Chris grinned, "Did you hear that, Finn? You're going to be a big brother."

"Big brother?" Finnegan asked. "Mommy, you're having a baby?"

"Yeah, Finny, I'm going to have a baby, are you happy?" she asked him, but she was asking Chris as well as her eyes darted up to his. He grinned at her and nodded his head, which was all the answer she needed, but he felt like he needed to say the words.

"I'm ecstatic if my vote counts for anything, you, Finn?"

"A baby?" he asked, his face scrunching up a little, "but is it going to stink?"

"Yeah, it's going to stink and cry, and be annoying sometimes," Stephanie said, "but so were you."

"Mommy!"

"But we loved you anyways," she told him, kissing him on the nose, "so what do you say, Finny, me and Daddy are in, are you in too?" He thought about it for a moment as Chris and Stephanie shared a kiss over his head. He made a face at that and then thought about it. He could at least play with a baby.

"Okay, I'm in."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Thanks to anyone who's reading this, appreciate it, hope you enjoy, review if you want, I'd be happy if you did. :)

* * *

"Chris, come on."

"What, what am I doing?" Chris said.

"You're staring at my stomach for one," she told him. "It's annoying."

"What? I'm just seeing if you're starting to show at all."

"I'm probably not because I'm probably not very pregnant at all," she said. "I mean, I only just found out a couple of days ago, so I can't be too far along. I haven't even been to the doctor's to get it confirmed yet."

"You'll let me come with you, right?" he asked, looking up at her and smiling ever so gently, the sides of his mouth turning up and that was it.

"No, Chris, I thought I'd keep you in the dark."

"Well…you didn't let me come with you when you found out that you were pregnant with Finn, so I don't know what the protocol is around here."

"Chris…the circumstances were different with Finny," she told him. "We had only been seeing each other for a year, and we weren't that serious-"

"Hey, I beg to differ on that one, I wasn't seeing anyone else when you got pregnant, I hope to God that _you_ weren't seeing anyone else, were you seeing someone else behind my back?" Chris asked, knowing the answer to that already.

"No, but you know how we were. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Finnegan was conceived in a bookstore bathroom."

Chris laughed, "Well, that was one time, and I doubt that's where Finn was conceived. Although that'd be quite the story."

"Shut up, but I'm just saying, we had never discussed the future, we had never discussed marriage except briefly and in passing, you said you loved me, but you know how those things can work out when things change, and we had never discussed children."

"That didn't mean I wouldn't have wanted one."

"Oh yes, which is why you thought about leaving me high and dry," Stephanie told him.

"I didn't…I couldn't," he said, shaking his head as he reached out to gently rub her stomach. "I saw you sitting there and you looked so lost and alone, and I just thought to myself, what the hell am I thinking? You're having my baby and I love you, and no matter how scary that is, I can't possibly leave you."

"Because you would've been fired?"

"Shut up, you know that's not it," he said, poking her gently in the stomach.

"Well, I thought about not telling you, so I guess we both had our…shortcomings about that situation."

"I'm glad you told me though. Can you imagine what would've happened if you hadn't?"

"Yes. I would've broken up with you, said it was fun, but that it wasn't working out. I would've laid low for a while, and quit the company or taken a home job, moved away and raised Finnegan by myself, and you would've…been free, I guess."

"What a pitiful existence that would've been."

She laughed, "You think that now, but sometimes I get the sense that you want to be able to go out every night and do whatever you want to do."

"Never!" he said with a laugh. "This is way better…Steph?"

"Yeah?"

"How did it feel finding out about Finn?"

She thought back for a moment to that time, to when the doctor had confirmed everything for her, "I was so scared. I mean, nothing was settled in my life, I hadn't planned on this little kid, and yet, there I was. I cried, I was just feeling so alone and I thought that you might leave me, it was bad. I didn't have fun."

"I think this one will be better," he told her sincerely.

"I sure hope so," she told him, "I mean, things are so different now. They're better, we're better, we're stable, nobody can look at us like we're crazy for deciding not to get married even though we were having a baby. We have a _home_ now too."

He laughed and kept rubbing her stomach. "We hadn't even really started trying for this baby."

"Well, we didn't try for Finny either, our kids apparently just like to pop in on us. They like to be little surprises," she told him. "Besides, it's almost better when you don't plan on it. It's more exciting I think."

"When's your appointment again?"

"We have to leave in twenty minutes," she told him, looking at her watch. "Then as soon as that's over, we have to go pick up Finn from pre-school since today is a half-day, and then I was thinking we could go have lunch."

"See, here's another good thing about me staying with you. How would I have ever been organized at all if I didn't have you in my life?" He grinned impishly at her, then said cheesily, "You complete me."

"Oh shut up, you," she told him, shoving his head away a little bit. "So when do you want to tell everyone?"

"Well, once we find out if you are or not?" Chris told her. "I figure we can just tell the people closest to us, so our family and close friends. Nobody else though, we'll make people sign a writ of confidentiality until you get so big people are going to be like, what the hell is up with Stephanie's stomach? Hopefully the first one to notice that is Paul."

"Chris, come on, he asked me out like forever ago."

"Steph, it was months okay, it wasn't years, it was only months ago that his true colors showed up once again. With my luck, he'll have a fetish for pregnant women and try to go after you anyways. I mean, since we've been married, he's tried to ask you out, how many times, three times is it?"

"It was business."

"Business my ass. Him wanting to go out to dinner to 'discuss the storyline' is completely bullshit," Chris said. "What does he think he's trying to pull?"

"Let it go," she said, rubbing his head. "You get too worked up over him. He's just a jackass, and it's not like I'm going to suddenly fall for his charms, especially since he has no charms to begin with."

"We better get going though, I don't want to be late for the appointment," Stephanie said as she pushed Chris off of her. Chris sat up and fixed his shirt before offering Stephanie his hand so she could get up. She got off the bed and he followed her. They were already in their clothes so they just headed downstairs, where Trish was reading something on the couch as she ate a croissant. "Hey, Trish, we're heading out for a little while, you going to be okay by yourself?"

"Of course, have fun," Trish said, glad for the opportunity to be alone. She didn't mind staying here, in fact she loved it here, but sometimes she did want to be alone.

"We're hoping," Chris said as he grabbed Stephanie's coat and helped her put it on. They left and Trish was just happy for the quiet. She looked around the expansive living room, looking at lives in progress and it made her ache. There were toys all over the floor, Cray was here, sleeping peacefully on his bed. There were pictures on the mantles, most of them Finnegan, and once upon a time, she had hoped for all this, and now it felt hopeless, now _she _felt hopeless.

"Hello again, Dr. Grimble," Stephanie said as she greeted her obstetrician. "You remember Chris, my husband."

"Hello, Chris," the doctor greeted kindly, shaking his hand. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's been a while," Chris said. "Stephanie and I haven't exactly been lighting it up on the scoreboard of kids."

"Chris," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes. "Excuse my husband."

"What?" he said.

Dr. Grimble laughed, "Well, we did the tests, and congratulations, your suspicions were right, you're going to be having a baby."

"That's great," Stephanie said, smiling at Chris. The change from the last time was different. She didn't feel like crying right now, there was no nervousness thinking about how Chris would react, there were no thoughts of running away. There was just a sincere happiness over getting to have another child. Chris was smiling too, having never been on this end of the receiving news. There wouldn't be any midnight confessions to pregnancy this time.

"Yes, you're actually about twelve weeks along, so fairly far into it."

"I've been busy with the wedding and Finn and everything, I guess I just didn't realize it, Chris and I were actually going to start trying for a child anyways, so this kind of came as a relief that we wouldn't have to plan and what not."

"Well, I'd actually like to see you right now if that's any and at all possible," the doctor said. "Since you're already at 12 weeks, I'd just like to go in for a general check-up, see how things have progressed so far, so if you have the time?"

"Um," Stephanie said, glancing at her watch. They were already running a little bit behind. "Well, we were going to pick up our son from pre-school."

"I can go pick him up and we'll come back for you, Steph," Chris said. "I want you to get checked out. You aren't doing any cool stuff today, are you? Heartbeats and what not?"

"Well, we can wait for you to get back, how does that sound, and you can bring your little boy in and he can listen too. We'll get the equipment set up and everything."

"Awesome, Finn will love to hear that," Chris said, kissing Stephanie. "You can get all of the gross stuff out of the way now. I'll be back."

Chris drove as quickly as possible to Finnegan's school, getting there just as they were being let out. Finnegan seemed to be dawdling a little bit as he had his hands full with projects that he had done over the past few days. Chris walked over and grabbed what appeared to be a drum made from an old thing of oatmeal. It was decorated with pictures cut out from magazines and Chris admired it as Finnegan gave it to him proudly.

"Where's Mommy, you said Mommy was coming?" Finnegan said as he looked around the parking lot.

"She's at the doctor's, we have to go get her."

"Oh," Finnegan said, then frowned, "Is Mommy sick?"

"No, they're checking her out because of the baby," Chris said. "They just want to make sure that everything is okay in there. So we're going to go and we'll probably get to hear the baby's heartbeat."

"Really, how?"

"Well, they have ways of doing it," Chris said as Finnegan climbed into the backseat and buckled in his seatbelt. "Your mom and I got to hear your heartbeat and it was pretty cool, made you actually seem like a human."

"Daddy, I'm human, I'm not an alien," he said, sticking his tongue out.

"Sometimes, I'm not so sure," he said, winking at Finnegan, who glared at him a little bit. Oh man, sometimes this kid was so Stephanie it scared him. "Come on, we don't want to make Mommy wait."

They drove back to the doctor's office, where Stephanie had been waiting for them. Finnegan was a little wary of what was going on, especially when he saw his mother laying on a table with her stomach exposed. There were also a lot of really weird and gross pictures and statues or something around here. It was creeping him out a little bit. It creeped him out even more when they brought in some weird machine.

"Daddy, what is that?" Finnegan asked.

"Be patient," Chris told him as he held him in his arms.

"Okay, here we go," Dr. Grimble said.

Finnegan's eyes were still wide as they were driving home from lunch. He didn't understand how that little wand thing had allowed him to hear what sounded kind of like a heartbeat, but also kind of sounded like someone beating a really fast drum. His parents had told him that was his little brother or sister, and he had just looked at them like they were crazy. He had heard his own heartbeat at the doctor's and it wasn't that fast, so he wondered why it was so fast inside of his mother.

"Mommy, my heart doesn't sound like that," Finnegan piped up from the backseat.

"Well, it slows down as he gets bigger."

"That's weird."

"Well, a lot of things are going to be weird about the baby right now, but then it'll start to get bigger, and get to be an actual baby, and you can see pictures of it and then you'll be convinced."

"Mommy, what if I didn't want the baby?"

"Well then I'd say too bad because it's going to happen whether you like it or not," she told him, with a shrug. "Of course, if you didn't want a little brother or sister, I guess that we can have you go live with Grandma and Grandpa or something, or maybe Grandpa Ted will take you in."

"No, Mommy, I'll stay!" Finnegan said. "I want to stay with you and Daddy."

"I thought you might say that," Stephanie said as she turned to the front again. "Do you want a baby brother or sister, Finny?"

"I don't care," he shrugged. "Either way it's going to cry and be little and I can't play with it. I know how babies work, Mommy."

"Oh, I see," she laughed. "I know how babies work too."

"Because you took care of me," Finnegan said. "And I was a good baby, right Mommy?"

"Um, no," Stephanie told him. "You were kind of annoying because you cried a lot, but I loved you anyways, so we worked through your little crying problem."

"Does Grandpa Ted know you're going to have a baby?"

"No, we haven't told anyone except you."

"Really?"

"Well, you're a part of this family, so you get to know before anyone else. If you were just some friend we had, then you wouldn't know right now, but you're definitely special," Chris told him. "Plus, we kind of like you."

They arrived back home and Finnegan jumped from the backseat and ran up to the door, waiting for someone with a key to come to the door. Chris came over and opened the door, Finnegan hearing the scratching of Cray's feet against the hardwood floors. He was there, barreling into Finnegan a second later. Finnegan hugged Cray and then Finnegan and Chris took Cray to the front yard to relieve himself. Stephanie walked inside and saw that Trish had at least moved to the kitchen.

"Hey, you switched rooms," Stephanie joked.

Trish smiled, "I am capable of moving."

"Feel like anything for dinner?"

"Nah, whatever is fine."

"Okay," Stephanie said, wanting to talk more with her friend, but not wanting to push her. She was obviously still upset over everything with Ron. She just didn't know how to help her out of this funk. "You know if you want to talk…"

"I know, Steph, you're being really great about this. I just kind of barged into your house and your life."

"You never barge in," Stephanie said. "We've got plenty of room here, and we love having you around, you know you're welcome to stay around here as long as you want."

"I was thinking about moving out here, I want to be around my friends and away from Ron, far, far away from Ron."

"That'd be great, we'd love to have you living around here."

"Trish, guess what?" Finnegan said, coming into the kitchen.

"What?" Trish said sweetly, giving him a kind smile.

"I got to hear the baby's heartbeat," Finnegan said matter-of-factly. "It was very quick."

"Baby?" Trish said, looking up at Stephanie with widened eyes. Could she…

Stephanie shrugged, "Thanks, Finny, for letting the cat out of the bag. Yeah, Trish, I'm having a baby, I was at the doctor's earlier getting it confirmed, but yeah, I'm pregnant, you're the first to know."

"Wow…wow."

"I'm going to have a brother or sister, it's cool," Finnegan said.

"Hey, congratulations," Trish said, hugging Stephanie.

Inside, she was crying.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Thanks to the few loyal readers to this little story. I like it so I'm going to continue with it and I'm glad those of you who are sticking with it are too. Enjoy! :)

* * *

Trish was curled up on the bed in her room. Well, not really her room, it was Stephanie and Chris's room since it was their house, but they were letting her stay there for as long as she wanted. Right now, she never wanted to come out. After pretending to feel happy for Stephanie for a little bit as Stephanie talked about how it was crazy that she was pregnant already even though she and Chris hadn't officially started trying yet, Trish had retreated to her bedroom, citing fatigue, but that wasn't the reason at all.

She wiped away a few more tears that had fallen and continued to clutch the pillow she had hugged to her body. It wasn't that she wasn't happy that her friends were having another baby, it was just that she had wanted one too. It was probably selfish of her, but she was instantly jealous that her best friend got to carry around this miracle and she got to carry around the seedlings to a divorce. That negative test had been so demoralizing to her, and now her friend was feeling the highest high and it was something she wanted a taste of so badly.

"Hey, where's Trish?" Chris asked as he came back down from his office. He had seen Stephanie and Trish talking and had steered away from the area quickly because he didn't want to get sucked into the girl talk they were so obviously having.

"She went upstairs, she said she was tired," Stephanie explained as she got herself a cup of iced tea. "I think the divorce is keeping her up at night. She's probably thinking about it too hard, you know. They were together for such a long time and thinking that you want a divorce is just something that has to weigh you down."

"Yeah, that's true, what were you guys talking about anyways?" he asked.

"Oh, well, Finny let the cat out of the bag about the baby, so I was talking to Trish about it."

"You were talking to Trish about…the baby…" he wondered slowly.

Stephanie picked up on his change of tone and she turned to him, "Yeah, why, did you want to keep it a secret because I'm going to start showing soon and then it's not going to be a secret, besides, if you want to lay the blame on anyone, I would lay the blame on Finnegan because he was the one who told."

"No, it's not that," he sighed. His mind had instantly reverted back to the conversation that he had with Shane about Trish wanting a baby. Trish had been desperate enough to go to Shane and ask him to be a sperm donor for her. How hard must it have been to hear that Stephanie was having a baby and it hadn't even taken her much time to do so.

"What is it then?"

Chris looked around to make sure that Trish was definitely not in the immediate area, "Well, it's like…well, I don't even really know how to say this."

"Say what?"

"Well, I was talking to your brother."

"You were talking to my brother and…"

"Well, it has to do with Trish, and I don't know if I should tell you actually," Chris said. "I mean, normally I would, babe, because you're my wife and I love you, and you should now everything that I know, right, no secrets and all that shit, but this isn't my news, you know, your brother told me in confidence."

"Okay, now you _have_ to tell me, you can't just do that, Chris, you can't just say something like that, which obviously had juicy implications, and then not tell me what is going on."

"Fine," he sighed, moving in close to her so that he could speak in lower tones. "Trish wanted a baby."

"What? Are you saying she had a miscarriage?" Stephanie asked, her eyes widening at the prospect of that. She would feel horrible if Trish had gone through something like that and she had been going on and on about how she was excited about being pregnant. But why wouldn't Trish tell her, her best friend, about something like that? Unless she didn't want to because she was upset since Stephanie had Finnegan and didn't want to feel that way.

"No, nothing like that, she _thought _she was pregnant, but she wasn't, it was negative."

"Oh, so she wants a kid?"

"Yeah, like bad," Chris said.

"Okay," Stephanie said, not seeing where this was heading. "Well, I mean, she'll have one eventually, I'm sure of it. There's got to be a guy out there for her, one willing to have children with her, you know."

"She asked Shane to donate his…um, you know, so she could have a baby."

"She asked my brother to _what_!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Shh, calm down!" Chris said, placing his hand on her arm. "She asked your brother if he would donate some of his, uh," Chris cleared his throat, "swimmers so she could have a baby."

"Oh my God, I can't believe that she would…she wants a baby that bad?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, I mean, think about it, her marriage is failing, she's alone, maybe she thinks that a baby would make it all better, you know, it would give her a purpose. I know that when Finn was born, I felt like a new person and maybe she just wants that too," he shrugged.

"Yeah, but when we had Finn, we you know, had sex, got pregnant, we didn't actually think it through and you didn't get your jollies off into a cup and have it implanted into me, it's very different."

"I know, but the end result is the same, you get a kid," he said. "Don't tell her I told you, okay? She probably wants to tell you on her own time."

"I won't say a word," Stephanie said, "of course, now I feel horrible because I was talking about the baby and everything and she had to be have been sitting there feeling upset about the entire thing."

"Hey," he said, hugging her gently, "You didn't know. I think I'm going to go up to talk to her, is that okay?"

"Yeah, please do," Stephanie said. "I'd just feel worse if I went up there."

"Okay," he said, kissing her forehead. She smiled up at him and he turned and walked out of the room and upstairs. He walked down the hallway towards Trish's room and stood outside for a moment as if collecting his thoughts. He was there so long that Finnegan had come upstairs and seen his father just standing there and thinking that his father was doing something, he stood next to him and stood there too.

"What are we doing, Daddy?"

"Oh, hey, Finn, I didn't see you there," Chris said. "You're too short."

"I am not! You're big," Finnegan told him nicely, as if that were just a compliment.

"Yeah, that's true," Chris said. "I'm just going to go talk to Trish about something, why don't you go play with Cray?"

"I am, I just wanted to get his toy that he left up in my room," Finnegan said, walking away and into his bedroom. Chris raised his closed fist and knocked softly on the door to Trish's bedroom.

"Trish, it's Chris, can I come in?"

"Um, hold on a second, Chris," Trish said as she wiped at her eyes. She stood up and went to look in the mirror and she looked like shit. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her cheeks rosy from the exertion of crying. Her hair was mussed from where she had been lying down and her clothes looked crumpled. All of it was just a physical representation of how she felt on the inside. Thinking quickly, she clamored into the adjoining bathroom and threw some cold water on her face to try and get the red out. It hardly worked though she tried hard to convince herself that it had. She tried so hard to convince herself that she just went and answered the door anyways. "Hey, Chris, what's up?"

"I was thinking that maybe we could talk?"

She and Chris were good friends, yes, but they were hardly ones for deep discussions. She usually had those with Stephanie. Her conversations with Chris were mostly playful, but she didn't think she would be friends with the man if he wasn't married to her best friend. This sounded like he wanted a serious discussion and she wasn't sure how to approach this. She sat on one edge of the bed and he sat on the other, turning to he was facing her. This was also awkward because they were sitting on the bed where she slept and it the atmosphere was just so personal.

"Um, what is it, Chris? If you want me out of your house…I mean, if I'm bothering you, what with Stephanie being…pregnant and all…"

"It's okay, Trish, stay as long as you like, please," Chris told her reassuringly. "Stephanie likes having someone to gang up on me with, so you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Oh, um, thanks."

"Yeah, look, I know we don't really _talk_ much, you know, beyond you know, stuff," Chris said uncomfortably, "but well, as you know, Shane is my best friend, has been even before I started dating his sister, he's like a brother to me now, almost a decade of knowing someone will do that, but he, uh, he told me what you asked of him."

"Oh God, I'm so embarrassed," Trish said immediately, covering her face with her hands.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, grabbing one of her hands off of his face, "don't be embarrassed. It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Are you kidding me?" Trish said, still not looking in Chris's direction. "I asked him to donate sperm so I could have a baby and he told you, that's embarrassing, Chris."

"Look, I can't fault you for wanting to have a baby," Chris said. "I know what it's like to have a kid, so you know, I can completely understand why you would want one so much. I just wanted you to know that, you know, someone is going to come along and you're going to be so happy that you didn't have a kid with someone you didn't love."

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

Downstairs, Stephanie was just walking past the front door to get something from her office when she saw Shane walking up her walkway. She paused and opened the door and he looked surprised to see that she was already opening the door for him.

"Hey, were you expecting me?" he joked.

"I saw you out the window, what's up, you don't usually show up in the middle of the day."

Shane waved something in his hand, "Files from Dad. He thought up some great new storyline and he wanted me to deliver it to you and see if you like it. Knowing Dad, he won't care if you like it or not, he's still going to do it."

She sighed, "You're right, thanks for bringing it over." She took the files from her brother and opened the manila folder, browsing over her father's handwritten notes. This was a normal occurrence for her on her days off. Her father would think of some brilliant storyline and send it her way. She was convinced he had a Rolodex of stored up ideas and he would pull one out on her days off to make sure she actually worked on her day off as well.

"No problem, Dad acts like it's a top secret mission and everyone is working for the enemy and only family can be trusted."

"I know, he usually sends it home with Chris," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, so as long as I'm out of the office for a while, what's up?"

"Nothing," Stephanie said, "Everyone is just kind of hanging around. Oh wait, you know, there is something up and you should probably know. You're my brother, so what the hell, right, you would've found out anyways."

"Well this sounds intriguing," Shane said. "You've got details on someone?"

"Just myself," she said.

"Huh?"

"I'm having another baby," she said. "Chris and I were going to start trying for another one, but turns out we didn't need to because I'm already pregnant."

"You're…you're having another baby?"

"Yes, that's what pregnant means, Shane," Stephanie told him.

"Oh wow, congratulations!" Shane said, hugging his sister tightly. "Wow, I'm happy for you guys…where's Chris, I want to congratulate him too, oh wait, did he actually run off this time? Oh man, that's rough."

"Very funny, he's upstairs talking to Trish, she's the only other person outside of my family that knows."

"Oh, Trish knows?" he asked, his mouth shutting tight after asking, his lips pursed together.

"Yeah…Chris told me what happened with you two," Stephanie said. "He didn't want to, but Trish seemed upset after I told her and he told me. I had no idea that she wanted a baby, or that she was feeling like that. I felt bad for being so happy around her."

"Yeah, she's just going through something right now," Shane said, his gaze turning down towards the floor. He stayed that way for a few minutes, just not talking as Stephanie stared at him not talking. It was a very awkward few minutes.

"Shane, don't have second thoughts."

"What?" he asked, looking up.

"You're my brother," she told him, "I've known you my entire life. Shane, think about this. Would giving her a baby, a _baby_ really make either of you happy. You wouldn't get to live with your kid, she'd have to raise it alone sometimes, and babies are hard, you know this. You saw it with Finn. I cannot imagine not having some sort of emotional attachment to the man getting me pregnant. It's all so clinical, you know, and Shane, you wear your emotions on your sleeve sometime, and with this, it's like, you have this baby…but what do you really have with Trish?"

"I get it, Steph, okay, I get it," he said. "I would look at it as a favor…and I would've taken care of my kid."

"If you have a change of heart, you know we'd support you…and her, but it's not a great idea."

"Chris said the same thing, you would support me?"

"You're my brother, I just…when you picture your first child, do you picture not even being in the same room as its mother when it's conceived?"

"You've got a point," he said.

"Yeah," she said, "not that I'm trying to make that decision for you, Shane."

"No, I know you're not, and you're right, I mean, when I picture my first child, I picture being with that child's mother, you know, even if it doesn't work out, I do at least picture myself with that child's mother at some point."

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Steph," he said, hugging her again. "I can't believe you're having another kid."

"Let's hope this one doesn't get colic," Stephanie said, crossing her fingers.

"Yeah, that was rough," he said, "I think I'm going to go up and talk to Trish though, if that's okay with you."

"No, go right ahead," she said, "send my husband back down while you're at it."

"Yeah, sure," he said.

"Shane?"

"Yeah?"

"If you decide to…I would still support you, for real, no lying."

"I know."


	16. Chapter 16

"_Hey, Shane."  
_

"_Hey, Steph, what's up?" he asked as his sister walked into his office. He had been staring off into space and hadn't noticed Stephanie was standing there for at least three minutes just looking at him. _

"_I heard what happened, why didn't you tell me?" Stephanie asked._

"_It's not a big deal," he shrugged._

_Stephanie tilted her head, "Shane, you were engaged, that's a huge deal. I've never been engaged, but that's a really big commitment, what happened between you two, I thought you guys were good."_

_Shane looked at his little sister. She was still so naïve. She had never had a serious relationship so of course he wouldn't have gone to her with this. She was out there pretty much every night having fun and not being attached to anyone. He envied her sometimes. He felt such pressure to settle down and build a life and he thought he had that with Kimberly, but she thought his work was his wife and there was no room for her to struggle her way in. _

"_It's really not a big deal. Don't worry about it."_

"_But why would she leave you? I just don't get it. She loved you enough to get engaged to you," Stephanie said. "So what happened?"_

"_Steph, once you're engaged, things don't get any less complicated. You wouldn't know anyways, how many serious boyfriends have you had?"_

"_What does that have to do with anything?" she asked. "You're just trying to stall with me. I'm not a little kid anymore and I'm trying to be sisterly here. And who do I hear this from? One of the wrestlers had to tell me, that's kind of embarrassing when someone comes up and tells me that they're sorry for you and I'm like, huh, why are you sorry for my brother? Kind of the things you should know."_

"_You're young, Steph," Shane said, looking at his younger sister who wasn't even 22 yet. What did she even know about life?_

"_You'll find someone better than Kim anyways. I didn't like her, she was such a snob and you _knew_ she was just using you for your money. I mean, you don't want to marry someone like that. I know that when I get married, I want to make sure the guy isn't going to use me for the money Daddy has. You need to find the same kind of person."_

_He smiled a little, "And how am I supposed to know they aren't using me?"_

"_I don't know," she shrugged, glad that she could make him smile. "I'm just saying that you'll find someone. She'll be better too and I won't have to suffer through a really gross girlfriend from you. I'll try to find a boyfriend you like to return the favor."_

_He laughed, "I don't think you should date a guy just because I like him."_

"_You know that guy, Paul, Paul Levesque, of course you know him, what am I saying?"_

"_What about him?"_

"_He is such a buttheaded kiss-ass," Stephanie said to him, shuddering a little bit. "He was trying to ask me out _again_. He just doesn't get that I don't like him, so like imagine I go out with him and you hate him, right?"_

"_I don't have much of an opinion," Shane said._

"_Eww, Shane, he's gross," Stephanie said, shaking her head, "well, pretend you hate him then and I'm going out with him and every time you see him, you're just uncomfortable and wondering why I'm with him and secretly wishing him like…death…that's how I felt about Kimberly."_

"_Thanks, Steph."_

"Oh hey, what are you doing here?"

Chris looked at his brother-in-law who was currently in his upstairs hallway. He was pretty sure he wasn't here when he went into Trish's bedroom. "I came to drop off some papers for Stephanie. I heard you were talking with Trish and I thought I might go talk to her."

"Probably not a good idea, she's kind of upset," Chris told him, "maybe wait a little while. Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Shane thought about it. He'd probably have to sit across from Trish and that would be extremely awkward. She'd stare at him and he'd stare at her and wonder how she could ask him something like that and he would start to feel guilty. He was already feeling a little guilty about the entire thing. He didn't know why he felt that way either. He shouldn't feel guilty for having to turn down a request which was highly unreasonable.

"No, I don't think I will, thanks for the offer though," Shane told him, then remembered himself, "oh, and Steph told me about the baby, congratulations, man, that's exciting news."

Chris chuckled, "I know, it just kind of sprung up. Stephanie and I were going to start trying for another one though. We had talked about it and we wanted another one so this is a welcome surprise. It'll be really different this time."

"You think so?"

"Well, considering no real arrangements need to be made, I'm thinking, yes," Chris said. "You sure you don't want to stay for dinner?"

Shane started walking with Chris down the hallway towards the stairs, "Yeah, I'm sure. I've got to get back to the office anyways, I can't hang around here for hours until dinnertime."

"That's true, it's only the afternoon," he pointed out. "So we've known each other a long time, right, Shane?"

"Yeah, we've known each other a long time and you've been with my sister a long time, what's your point?" he asked.

"I think I can read you fairly well. You and Stephanie are very easily readable. You both think you keep your cards close to your chest, but you really don't. You act the same too and since it didn't take me long to perfect Stephanie's looks, it hasn't taken me long to figure _you_ out."

"Get to your point, Chris," Shane interjected, wondering where Chris was going with this. Yes, he had been friends with Chris a long time, best friends actually and Chris had been a part of his family for more than half a decade at this point.

"You're having second thoughts," Chris told him, looking him in the eye so Shane couldn't escape his scrutiny. Chris's eyes were nearly piercing his and it was easy for him to do that because they were so blue.

"What are you talking about?" Shane feigned innocence.

"The thing with Trish, you're having second thoughts and from the look on your face, I'd wager that my wife has made this same observation. You've got that look that says that you can't believe we are so in tune with each other."

Shane laughed, "You two do think too much alike for your own good."

"I know, it's from being with her for so long," Chris said. "But you're having second thoughts, aren't you?"

"What would it hurt?" Shane asked. Chris realized this could be an actual discussion and sat down on the top step of the stairs. Shane followed his example and sat down as well. "I mean, seriously, what would it hurt to do it?"

"I guess it wouldn't _hurt_ anyone, but you know, it's a big thing."

"I know," Shane said. "I _know_. I just…I feel so bad for her and I've always wanted kids and no, it's not the way you actually want to go about this, I know that, but I can't help but think about what having a kid would be like, no matter how it happened."

Shane wasn't getting any younger. He knew that guys could have kids well into their old age, but he didn't want to be one of those dads who was 60 when they had their first kid. He wanted to be able to enjoy his kid and it seemed like time was winding down for him. He knew that it was not traditional to have a kid with his friend, but didn't people do it? Didn't it happen sometimes? It couldn't be so taboo.

"A kid is great," Chris admitted. "I don't know what I'd do without Finn."

"Yeah, and I see you with him and I'm jealous, which I think is what Trish is going through too. She sees Steph with Finn and she wants that too and can you really blame her?"

"No," Chris said. "But Shane, you do have a girlfriend, you know. What is she going to think about that?"

"I don't know," he said and he didn't. He had been thinking about discussing the whole thing with Rebecca, but had chickened out every time. He knew that it probably wasn't going to be a really happy conversation with Rebecca giving her blessing and wanting to be involved or something. That's why he hadn't even brought up Trish's offer with her. "She'll probably break up with me."

"And you're okay with that?"

"I don't know."

"So it sounds like you're not as sure about all this as you thought you were."

"No, I've thought about this. I'm having a lot of fun with Becca and her son is great and everything. I want it though and Becca doesn't want any right now and I wouldn't ask her too. We haven't even been dating that long."

"So you think Trish is your one shot at this?"

"I'm starting to think she could be," Shane laughed mirthlessly. "I don't have many prospects. I'll be honest with you, I just…I'm not great at this whole dating thing."

"You think I was?" Chris scoffed. "I'm lucky as hell I found your sister. You've read my book, I was horrible with women. I sucked trying to get women. I would have nobody if it weren't for your sister."

"Okay, true, so you kind of know what I'm going through."

"Yeah, I do," Chris said. "Look, like I'm sure Stephanie said, we'll support you either way you go. We seriously will. I mean, it's not like you're committing a crime or something. You'd just be having a kid and if you're going to have a kid with your friend, well, Trish is the best friend you could possibly ask to have a kid with."

"Thanks," Shane said. "I think I want to do this."

"If that's what you want."

"I think it is."

Shane left shortly after that, not speaking with Trish however. He still had to think about what he wanted to do. He had to talk to Rebecca about it first and he knew this would probably signal the end of their relationship. He was upset about that, but he was starting to really want this imaginary kid he had come up with in his mind. He could picture a little boy…or even a little girl with his dark eyes and someone who adored him. He and Trish could coexist and if she was getting a divorce from Ron, he could invite her to stay at his house through the duration of the pregnancy. It could all work out and he could have a kid out of it. Trish could even move in with him and he could be around his kid all the time. That would be even better.

He went back to the office to finish up the work for the day. His messages were on his desk from his secretary and saw one from Rebecca saying that she was hoping he could come over for dinner tonight since he hadn't been able to get away from work the past couple of days. He sighed as he looked at it. Rebecca was the biggest obstacle right now and he didn't want to hurt her, but this child was starting to actually take form in his head. He wanted it to be a tangible thing.

He picked up his phone and dialed Rebecca's number. "Hey, Shane, did you get my message?"

"Yeah, I did."

"So can you come?"

"Yeah, I can, I want to," he said, thinking about her slapping him in the face. He hoped it wasn't as hard as his sister's could be. He winced at the thought.

"Oh great, can't wait to see you," she told him.

"Yeah, me neither," he said, his voice lowering ever so slightly. "I'll be by around six."

"Okay, 'til six then," she said.

It was like a countdown to doomsday.


	17. Chapter 17

"_It's okay, Shane, you can do it."_

"_I don't think so, Steph, I mean, I've never even held a baby before and I just…I don't want to drop your kid," Shane said._

"_Shane, you're not going to drop him, you're sitting down and Finny is pretty solid."_

"_He's a newborn, how can a newborn be solid, he's two days old!" Shane protested. Everyone else had already held Finnegan, but he was hesitating. He'd never held a baby before, hell, he'd never even really _been_ around a baby before. He didn't want to hurt his nephew. He could enjoy the kid from a safe distance._

"_Because he's not as fragile as you think he is."_

"_Babies are fragile, I might not know much about them, but I do know that they're pretty fragile."_

"_Well, they are," Stephanie said, "but you're not a child, you're not an idiot, you're not going to drop my kid. Come on, Shane, everyone has held him, Mom and Dad, Chris's dad, Chris's stepmom, that just leaves you…well and Chris's mom, but once Finny is free to travel, we're going up to Winnipeg so she can meet her first grandson. So Shane, hold my kid!"_

"_No," Shane said, "Stephanie, you do not want to trust me with the most precious thing in your world right now."_

"_Are you drunk?"_

"_What? No!" he told her._

"_Then you're trustworthy, believe me," she said, taking a seat on the couch next to him, Finnegan in her arms. Shane looked down at the adorable little guy. One of his eyes was squinted shut, but the other was open and he was gripping the lapel of Stephanie's blouse. "Finny, this is Uncle Shane, he doesn't want to hold you."_

"_It's not that, Finn," Shane said, peering down at Finnegan, "I just don't want to drop you or hold you the wrong way, you understand right?" Finnegan opened the one eye he was squinting and drooled a little, "See, he understands."_

"_Shane, you're going to hold your nephew whether you like it or not."_

"_I'm not, you hold him, you're his mother, he probably just wants you anyways, I mean, you know, the attachment and all that of you being his mother."_

"_Chris cut the umbilical cord so technically he's not attached to me," Stephanie joked._

"_That's just disgusting," Shane said._

"_Dude, you haven't held him yet?" Chris said, walking into the room. "What's the hold up? You don't like my kid? Because if that's the case then I'm about to throw you out on your ass."_

"_He's scared," Stephanie explained._

"_I'm not…scared, I just know I wouldn't be good holding your kid."_

"_He doesn't _do_ anything," Chris said._

"_How did you know you would be good parents?" Shane asked. "I mean, you guys look natural with him."_

"_We're scared shitless," Chris laughed, "but he's our kid and we love him and we wanted him so we deal with it and do our best."_

"_Here," Stephanie said, forcing Finnegan into Shane's arms. He almost tried to pull them but before he could do anything, Finnegan was in his arms. He held his breath for a long moment, freezing, as if movement would somehow make Finnegan fly from his arms. "Relax!"_

_Shane tried, oh how he tried, but it was difficult. He glanced at his sister and she gave him an encouraging look so he took a deep breath and then let his arms relax. He looked down at his nephew, who was, in turn, looking up at him. Shane smiled down at him and realized this wasn't as hard as he'd made it out to be. In fact, it was pretty cool._

"Shane McMahon!"

"Stephanie McMahon-Irvine!" Shane said after he got over being startled by his sister.

"What in God's name are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"I'm working and what are you even doing here? I was _just_ over at your house dropping off papers for you and now you're here," he said, gesturing towards her person. "I thought you weren't coming in today and working from home."

"I was until I talked to my husband who told me that my brother is _insane_."

"Oh yeah, that whole married couple tells each other everything thing," Shane muttered. He decided to indulge his sister, "Why do you think I'm insane?"

"You're going to be jerking around two women," Stephanie said and as Shane smirked and opened his mouth, she cut him off, "yeah, yeah, that's disgusting, Stephanie, whatever, Shane. Do you understand what you're doing here? First of all, you're with Rebecca, at least I'm assuming that you're still with her."

"I am," he confirmed.

"Okay, good, well, no, not good, Chris tells me you are honestly contemplating taking Trish up on her offer. Shane…I don't even know where to begin with this."

"You said and Chris said that you would support me with whatever I chose to do."

"Yeah, well, I lied," Stephanie said, "can you really blame me though? I didn't think that you would actually go through with it! You said that you weren't going to do it, you told Trish that you weren't interested in it and now you're changing your mind. Shane, you don't know what this entails!"

"I know full well what this entails."

"No, you don't!"

"Yes, I do," Shane said, "look, I'm getting older and I do want the kids. You only get so much time and I want to be able to enjoy a kid before I'm too old. I want to have kids and Trish offered and she's willing and she's my friend-"

"And you're not together."

"You were unmarried!"

Stephanie scoffed and looked at him like he'd gone insane, "Shane, Chris and I had been together for a year before I got pregnant. We were in a relationship, we loved each other. He wasn't my friend who I asked to donate sperm so I could have a baby. The two situations are totally different and you're telling me that you're okay doing this in a cup and impregnating Trish?"

"Excuse me?"

Shane and Stephanie both looked towards the door where Rebecca was standing in the doorway. The McMahon siblings shared the same look of surprise and horror. Stephanie gulped and she swore she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. It was nothing compared to what Shane was feeling in that moment. He looked at his girlfriend and he didn't know what to say and he didn't know how much she had heard.

"Becca, hey," he said.

"Yeah, hey," she said, but it was testy. "What the hell are you guys talking about? Why are you talking about sperm donations and babies and…Shane, what the hell is going on?"

"Steph?" Shane said, nodding his head towards the door.

"Yeah, I better go," Stephanie said.

"Wait," Rebecca said, catching Stephanie's arm. "Why does she have to go anywhere, why is she even here and what are you guys…I don't…make me understand what's going on here? Shane, are you having a baby?"

"Becca, I think this is between you and Shane," Stephanie said gently, trying to extricate her arm from Rebecca's grasp. Rebecca didn't even seem to be paying attention to Stephanie at the moment so Stephanie slipped out of the room.

"Shane, answer me, did you…are you having a kid?" Rebecca's thoughts seemed to be going in every different direction like a faulty set of fireworks, jetting off here and there without any kind of clear destination.

"Becca," he started, standing up and then leaning back against his desk. He licked his lips a little and tried to figure out the best way to say all of this, but there really wasn't a best way, there was only one way and that was the truth. "Trish, you know Trish, well, she's been having problems with her husband for a while, since she retired. I guess all the traveling she did kind of made her ignore the fact that her husband wasn't compatible with her. Anyways, she thought she was pregnant and it turned out she wasn't, but she really wants a child. She's divorcing her husband, most likely, I guess and she…asked me…to, well, you know…"

"No, I don't know, why don't you spell it out for me?" Rebecca said, folding her arms and tapping her foot lightly on his gray carpet.

"She asked me if I would be the sperm donor for her so she could have the child that she wants."

"And you told her no, right, you told her no because you're in a relationship, right?"

"I did tell her no," Shane said, "but I'm having second thoughts."

"Are you kidding me?" Rebecca was aghast with the information that Shane was telling her right now. "You've obviously got to be kidding me? Were you going to do this and not tell me about it? Just go out there and donate whatever so this woman can have a child? And if you did, how involved would you be, Shane?"

"I was going to tell you, I was going to tell you when I saw you later. I wasn't expecting you to hear my conversation with Stephanie. I was going to come over and hopefully talk to you about it rationally. I would like to be involved of course, but I don't want to be with Trish," Shane explained. "I just wanted to help her out and I know that I want kids. I also know that we're nowhere close to that stage in our relationship and I know that you love Richie and everything and I-"

"So you thought you could cut corners and just have a child with your friend?" she asked.

"Is that what you're saying?"

"Not in so many words. Look, I love Trish, I'm not in love with her, but I love her as a friend and she asked me for this favor and yeah, at first, I thought she was crazy. But I do want the kids and yes, I've been thinking about it. But this isn't to do with the two of us."

"Oh, really, so I'm just supposed to let my boyfriend donate sperm to impregnate his friend? Do you see what's not okay with this, Shane?" Rebecca told him, her eyes starting to well up with tears. "I just feel like…you're saying that hey, I'm probably not really interested in the woman I'm dating so I'm just going to jump into this really easy way to get a kid."

"That's not what I'm saying at all," Shane told her. "I really care about you and I love being with you and Richie and I haven't felt this way in a long time. On the other hand though, I feel for Trish. I want to help her-"

"Giving her a child is not _helping_ her!"

"Okay, bad choice of words there," he said, "I want to give her this gift."

"You're acting so nonchalant about this!" Rebecca yelled at him. "You're acting like it's not a big deal that you would have a woman out there pregnant with your child while you what, take me out to dinner and spend time with me? Shane, I like you, I really do, but you can be so stupid sometimes. Do you honestly believe that you aren't going to want to be there every second of every day with her? When you're having a kid, it changes the entire game. I'm sure you saw that with your sister and Chris. Everything becomes about that child and you're going to want to be there for every step. You're not going to focus on anything or anyone else but that child and that child will be inside another woman. I'm not trying to be mean or rude to Trish. I've met her on a number of occasions and she's a really great person, I like her, but I don't think you get what you're asking me to do here. You're asking me to ignore another whole part of your life."

"I don't care that Richie isn't mine," Shane said and it was probably the worst thing he'd said that day and the worst possible thing he could have said in that moment. And he'd said some pretty stupid stuff today, but this had to be the topper.

"You _know_ that's a whole different situation."

"I do, I'm sorry."

"I wasn't pregnant with another man's baby when I started dating you and you want me to stay here and play the good girlfriend while another woman is carrying your child? How selfish can you be, Shane?"

"I didn't say I was going to, I've just been thinking about it."

"Yeah, well don't talk to me until you come to a decision."

And then she was gone.


	18. Chapter 18

"So am I like barred from your house?"

Chris laughed, "No, of course not, but you might not want to come in and see your sister. She might rip your head off right now. Becca called her."

"Damn it," Shane said, "so I guess my sister knows what happened once she left. I figured as much. My sister has never been one to keep an opinion to herself either. I just hope she's not pissed at Trish because of this."

Chris shook his head, "She's not. I think she understands how desperate Trish feels right now. Her life is falling apart and she's trying to cling to something or create something that won't make it all feel so bad. Stephanie said she kind of felt the same way when she was pregnant with Finn."

"How could she possibly feel the same way?" Shane asked.

"Well, right after she found out she was pregnant, she overheard a conversation between me and Adam about how I didn't see a future with her, but then she misunderstood and left the conversation because I added that it was because we never planned the future so I never knew what it was going to bring me."

"Oh, wait, so that's why she went crazy for six years and wouldn't marry you?"

"Pretty much, all a misunderstanding," Chris chuckled, "but she was scared and wanted to raise Finn by herself because she thought I'd leave and she understands Trish, what she doesn't understand is you."

"You're a jackass!" Stephanie walked past the door and flipped her brother off.

"I see that," Shane said. "Do you think I could steal you away for dinner?"

"Let me go ask Steph, can Finn come along, he'd love a guy's night out thing," Chris said.

"You never have to ask if Finn can come along, of course he can," Shane said, "unless we were going to a strip club or something, then I'd be like, maybe when he's older."

Chris chuckled, "I'll be right back, come in and find Finn, he's somewhere around here. Can you just find him and tell him to put his shoes on?"

"Sure, no problem," Shane said, wandering off into the house. He didn't see Finnegan anywhere downstairs so he headed upstairs and down the hallway. He was about to turn into the playroom when Trish walked into the hallway wrapped in just a towel. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she pulled her towel tighter against her. Shane was surprised to see her though he shouldn't have been considering she was staying with Chris and Stephanie. He just didn't really expect to see her so…unclothed.

"Shane, um, hey," Trish said, "I was just about to take a shower and I forgot a washcloth and so I was just rushing out to get one."

"Oh um, yeah, don't let me…stop you," he said, but made no motion to actually move out of her way. She kind of stared at him and then he realized he was blocking her way and he cleared his throat and moved. She scurried down to the linen closet and pulled it open, grabbing a washcloth really fast and then scurrying back down the hallway. "I'm just…looking for Finn, we're going out to dinner with Chris."

"Oh cool," Trish said, standing awkwardly in the middle of the hallway just wearing a towel. "That should be fun."

"I think so," he said, "Look, I don't want things to be awkward between the two of us. I know that-"

"It's not," Trish interjected, though what she was saying didn't necessarily fit what she was thinking. She was absolutely embarrassed to be here in front of Shane and it wasn't because she was in a towel but because she was still wounded from her disastrous attempts at asking him for a sperm donation. "I mean, I don't think so, right?"

"No, no, I mean, it doesn't have to be of course, I just wanted to make sure that it…wasn't," he told her, looking down and then back up at her, "I mean, actually, I think that we should talk sometime, about it, about everything that you told me and stuff and I really want to be someone you can lean on because I know that Steph has the baby that she's thinking about and all of that stuff."

"I appreciate that," Trish told him with a nod.

"Yeah and I just…are you free tomorrow maybe?" he asked. He wasn't totally sure what he wanted to ask her at this point or what he wanted to tell her, but he needed to talk to her. If he was even considering doing this for her, there would have to be a lot of talking and it needed to start soon.

Even to his own mind it started to sound like he'd made up his mind. He wasn't lying when he said he wasn't getting any younger. It was the truth. He was getting into his 40's and he needed to start establishing something. He didn't want to be one of those older fathers, the ones that had kids in their 60's and didn't get the chance to properly watch them grow up. He wanted a family, he realized. It wasn't some huge epiphany, but just this growing need inside his heart. He'd watched his friends and his sister grow into these families and he was still that single guy.

He might still be single, but the fact was there was a kid on the table and shouldn't he take that plunge if he had the chance? "Um, yeah, I guess," Trish said. She had a lot of free time right now if she was honest. She hated that she was bumming off Chris and Stephanie, but she just did not want to go back to Toronto and face Ron. She should probably start looking for a place. She knew she wanted to stay around here with her friends (and where there was no chance she'd ever run into Ron on accident) so maybe in Connecticut or New York or some other nearby place.

"Great, great, I just want to talk to you."

"I'm okay with that," she said, but she wasn't. This was growing more awkward by the second. "I should probably go…you know, shower, out here in a towel..."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry," he waved his hands in embarrassment. "Go ahead, I didn't mean to keep you or anything."

"It's okay."

"I should go find Finn," Shane brushed past her, feeling embarrassed that he'd kept her standing there practically naked for minutes while he tried to have a stilted conversation with her. It felt weird talking to her now, but it didn't deter him from what he might want to do. Shane walked into the upstairs playroom and found Finnegan lying on the couch with his head next to Cray's small body. Crazy was sleeping, snoring softly as body moved up and down with his slow breaths. Finnegan's eyes were trained on the video in front of him. "Hey, kiddo, what's going on?"

Finn and Cray's heads popped up almost simultaneously and created the cutest picture in Shane's head. "Uncle Shane, what are you doing here?" Finnegan asked.

"I was going to take you and your dad out to dinner, how does that sound?"

"I like it!" Finnegan exclaimed. "Can you turn off my video for me?"

"Sure, can you go get your shoes on?"

"Uh huh," Finnegan ran out of the room and Cray was right on his heels. Shane turned off the DVD player and the TV and then walked to Finnegan's room to see him sitting on the bed pulling on his shoes. Shane came over and helped him with them even though Finnegan insisted that he could do it himself. Shane smiled and let him finish up and tried to picture a child of his own. They'd have the McMahon chin problem, like Finnegan did and maybe they'd have brown hair…they probably would since Trish was a natural brunette. "What are you looking at, Uncle Shane?"

"Nothing, just thinking," Shane said, "come on, let's get downstairs."

"Cray, come on, you can stay with Mommy," Finnegan told his dog. They walked into the hallway again and this time Trish was just walking _out_ of the bathroom after her shower, which was awfully quick, but then, he didn't know how long women usually took in the showers; he'd never timed anyone.

"Fancy meeting you here again," Shane said, then gave himself a mental slap as he heard how dumb he sounded.

"Well, I live here for now," Trish said as Crazy sniffed at her ankle.

"He thinks you smell nice," Finnegan laughed and then ran down the hallway and downstairs, Cray abandoning Trish's ankle to follow Finnegan around.

"That dog really loves him," Shane commented idly.

"Well, they're both little bundles of energy. You should see the two of them, always running here and there, that dog is never going to get fat, I'll tell you that," Trish said, making small talk, but also trying to ease the obvious tension festering between them. "So, I…is there…"

"What?" Shane didn't understand what she was mumbling.

"It's awkward between us," she told him, playing with the belt of her robe. "I mean, let's not act like it isn't. Nothing is ever going to be the same between us. I never should have asked you to do that for me. I mean, I was so selfish and now I'm mortified because I asked you to do that and-"

"Trish, really, I mean, yes, it's awkward, but we'll get over that, I promise you, I just…I've had time to think," he said, "really think about what you said and what you wanted and I completely understand where you're coming from. I mean, no, I've never thought I was pregnant," Trish laughed, "but I get the whole wanting a kid thing, I mean, I get it, I've been thinking about it and how much sense it makes and I don't blame you for wanting it."

"Thank you," she said, reaching up and giving him a brief hug, "I really am glad that I didn't ruin our friendship. I was so scared you would just hate me."

"No, of course not, never could I hate you, ever," he said. "I better get downstairs, Chris and Finn are probably waiting for me. You and Stephanie should like, pig out and do girl stuff, whatever that may be."

She laughed, "We probably will, Steph's been trying to get me out of this funk I'm in anyways."

"I hope it works," he said, giving her another hug before she walked into her room. Shane looked up and started walking, only to be met by Chris near the stairs, he'd been leaning against the wall and it looked like he had been listening in on the entire conversation. "So how much of that did you hear?"

"I wasn't trying to listen in on your conversation," Chris said, "I'm not Stephanie. I just came up here to tell you that we're ready and I happened to catch the tail-end of the conversation. I don't really care what you guys were up to."

"I keep forgetting that you may be married to my sister, but that you're _not_ my sister," he laughed as they walked down the stairs where Finnegan was waiting for them. "She would have wanted every detail of the conversation."

"Hey, that's my wife you're talking about," Chris said good-naturedly. "You shouldn't badmouth her around me, I might not like it."

"Apologies," Shane said.

"I have to say though, the way you were talking to her, it didn't sound like a man who was thinking about having a kid with his friend."

"It didn't?" Shane questioned. Was it possible that he didn't want to do it and he was putting up a front just to save Trish from the embarrassment of the situation? "So what did it sound like to you then?"

"It sounded like a man who had already made up his mind."


	19. Chapter 19

"You need to talk to Becca though."

"I know, but I have a feeling that's going to be over," Shane sighed. "I mean, she heard pretty much everything and I don't think she'd be on board with me having a child with another woman. Even if we'd been together a long time…that would probably be worse."

"You still need to talk to her," Chris pointed out. "I think you owe it to her to tell her what's going on and be honest with her. She may dump you, but at this point, I mean, I'm not saying that it wouldn't hurt you, but you're very obviously contemplating having this child with Trish. You owe it to Trish to talk to her too."

"So I pretty much need to talk to all the females in my life?"

"I would think so," Chris nodded.

"What would you do if you were in my situation?" Shane asked. "Would you have a kid?"

"I don't know," Chris shrugged, then reached out to ruffle Finnegan's hair. Finnegan looked up from his food and smiled at his dad. "I guess I might consider it, but I think everyone is different. I get the whole wanting to have a kid thing. It's exciting and fun and scary all at the same time. But it's a big responsibility."

"I'm not a child anymore," Shane said.

"Yeah, but raising a kid is like nothing you've ever experienced before," Chris said, "you have to know what you're getting into, for real."

"I have a good feeling," Shane said. "You're right though, I need to start being honest with people."

After dinner with Chris, Shane made his way over to Rebecca's house. He figured the person he needed to explain to the most was her. She'd been a wonderful girlfriend and he'd been a terrible boyfriend. He knew that she was most likely going to break up with him, hate him forever and he couldn't blame her. It might make it easier for him to make a decision if she did hate him. He walked up to her front door and hesitated before he finally reached forward and rang the doorbell. He tapped his foot nervously until the door opened and Rebecca stood in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked testily.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"I thought I made it clear what I thought of you," Rebecca told him, "I can't believe you would treat me like that, that you would go behind my back and have all of this going on and not even bother to tell me about it. I thought we were doing so well and then I find out that you were meeting with Trish to discuss having a baby!"

"It wasn't like that," Shane told her, "if you'll just give me a chance to explain."

"No," Rebecca told him, leaning in the doorway. "I don't think there is an accurate explanation for anything that's going on right now. Are you or are you not contemplating having a child with another woman?"

"I was," he confirmed.

She nodded and looked down at her feet before looking back up at him. "How could you possibly expect me to be okay with that? Under no circumstances would I have been okay with that, Shane. She's your friend and I get that you care about her, I'm not trying to be the huge bitch monster who doesn't understand that you have a friendship, but this is taking it above and beyond and I can't handle that."

"I just…I don't know, I'm getting older and it made…sense in a weird way," he knew he wasn't explaining himself well, but he had to try. He didn't want Rebecca to hate him outright. He knew he was trying to have his cake and eat it too, that he was probably trying to make everyone like him when it just wasn't possible, but he'd never meant for this to hurt Rebecca like he knew it was. He cared for her a great deal, even if she didn't believe that he did.

"You _do_ know that we were together," Rebecca said.

"Yeah, but we weren't 'having kids together' together," he told her and realized how bad that sounded, "I'm just saying that we weren't serious enough to discuss something like that and I…"

"Don't you think that having a kid should be with someone you love though?"

"I love Trish," he said weakly.

"I know you do, as a friend, but don't you think there should be more than that. I assume that you would not be doing this in the traditional sense, that you would be going the in-vitro route?"

"Yes, but I fail to see what that has to do with anything."

"I don't know, I mean, there's just no connection there and when you have a kid, I guess…I guess you want that. I was never closing the window on having more children, I would never do that, but then you go out and-"

"Trish was asking me as a friend," Shane interrupted. "She asked me because, well, I guess she felt the same thing I'm feeling. She's getting older and her marriage is kind of falling apart and she just wanted someone to love and she asked me. I told her no initially because I was with you, but it just doesn't seem like a bad idea. I wouldn't…I don't want to be with Trish."

"But having a child would put you in close proximity and…I can't believe I'm actually talking to you about this. Look, Shane, you're a good guy, one of the best guys I've ever known, but I can't be party to this, I can't be a part of this and if this is something you want to do then we can't be together, I can't be with someone I know is having a child with someone else. Maybe if it was under some other circumstance, like, if she was pregnant and I met you, but I can't say that I'm okay with telling you to go off and give a donation to help your friend have a child, I'm not okay with that, Shane."

"I know."

"I love you," she told him, "and I hate this with everything inside of me."

"I know," he repeated, "I don't want to hurt you, Becca, I love you too and-"

"Shane, I just think it would be best if you went," Rebecca told him. "I just…I just think it would be best."

He nodded without saying anything, not wanting to hurt her any further. He wanted to reach out and give her a hug at least, but now he felt like he was overstepping his boundaries. He sighed instead and turned to walk away, leaving Rebecca behind. He felt like a first-class heel at that moment. He was turning away something potentially great for what? He wasn't even sure what was going on with Trish. He had plans with her the next evening, but the dinner could go any way.

He had talked it out with Chris enough and he didn't want to bother the guy anymore with his problems so he was only left to contemplate what he was going to do. He wanted a child, the thought becoming more and more appealing to him. He saw Finnegan and was jealous and he wanted a child before it was too late and he couldn't enjoy it. Why did everything have to be conventional? Couldn't some things be unconventional, but still really good?

It was with that attitude that he went into his dinner with Trish. "So this feels a little like déjà vu," Shane said uncomfortably as they sat down to dinner the next evening. "I mean, not that it's a bad thing or anything, I'm not saying that."

"I got it, what you meant, I mean," Trish said, pulling her menu up so he couldn't see her face and it was probably for the best that they get a few brief moments to collect their thoughts.

When she pulled the menu down and placed it on top of the table, he opened his mouth to start the conversation, but the waiter came over to take their orders, prolonging their actual conversation for a little while longer. When orders had been made, Shane tried again, "Trish, so…I guess you're kind of wondering why I asked you to dinner."

"A little, yeah," Trish admitted. "I figured it was because you wanted to kind of repair all the damage that I did when I asked you for that…favor. I really didn't want anything to change with us. I was desperate and trying to think of solutions for why I felt so…horrible and I did it in the complete wrong way. I want us to still be friends."

"We'll always be friends, Trish," Shane reached across the table and took her hand in his. "I want you to know that and believe that."

"Good, I don't know what I'd do if I lost your friendship," Trish said. "I've started to look for good divorce lawyers. Your sister said she would put me in touch with some."

"My sister…why would my sister know any good divorce lawyers?" Shane asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, no, no, no, nothing like that," Trish assured him, "she was going to ask some of the company lawyers if they knew anyone who specialized in family law so I could start the proceedings. Ron and I just didn't turn out to be as compatible as I thought we would be. I mean, we're not high school sweethearts anymore. It was so easy to disguise our flaws when we spent so little time together. I want a second chance at love I guess."

"That's great, I'm really happy that you're taking charge of your life, I think only good things can come from that," he said, "but I wanted to go back to the baby thing."

"Shane, I'm sorry, please, I'm just so embarrassed," she pulled her hand away from his and covered her face. She didn't even want to think about her foolishness again. What had she really been thinking?

"Actually, I wanted to discuss…if I did it."

Trish pulled her hands away from her face and stared at him, "If you did what?"

"If I…donated what you needed," he said discreetly, his eyes darting around the busy restaurant, "if I decided that it was something I wanted to do."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say," Trish was confused. Was Shane saying that he wanted to have a child with her?

"I've been thinking about what you asked, I've been thinking about it pretty much nonstop, ask my sister and her husband and they'll tell you that I've been thinking about it, I'm sorry that I told them, I know that you probably wanted to yourself or whatever, but I needed the advice."

"What about Rebecca?"

"She wasn't as supportive, not that I'm blaming her or anything, but yeah, that kind of dissolved. I've just been really thinking about it and it makes sense. I care about you, Trish, and I love you as a friend and I want to have a child, someone I can love and if you're willing and you want it just as much as I do, who cares by what means a child comes into this world as long as they're loved. I love Finn to death, but Stephanie and Chris didn't plan him, but it didn't matter because he's a great kid. We could have a great kid too and I would love to be part of all of that. I would love to have a little boy or girl that I could love as my own and who better to have it with than with someone I trust and love?"

"I'm not even sure what to say," Trish was dumbfounded. She'd nearly completely talked herself out of the idea of children. She figured she might just not be destined for one, but here was Shane, offering to be there for her and with her, by her side for everything.

"You can absolutely think about it, in fact, I think you probably should, but I'm putting it out there right now. If you are willing then I'm in. I would love to have a kid and I would love to have one with you."

"Just, can I let you know tomorrow?" she asked, still not sure she was comprehending everything correctly.

"You can take as many tomorrows as you want."


	20. Chapter 20

"Hey, how was dinner?"

Trish looked up from her purse, startled that there was anyone in the kitchen. Stephanie was sitting at the counter, snacking on what appeared to be some potato chips. Trish put her leftovers in the fridge before setting her purse down on the counter. "It was interesting," Trish said, then gestured towards the potato chips, "don't tell m you're already getting cravings."

"No, I was just hungry and decided to have a snack," Stephanie said, "I figured it wasn't a big deal since I am pregnant now if I splurged a little and had some potato chips."

"Plus you're married now so you can let yourself go," Trish joked as she leaned on the counter in front of Stephanie. "I think Chris would love you any way you come."

"You're presuming a lot," Stephanie told her.

"The man waited for you for six years, I don't think it's going far to say that he doesn't care how you look," Trish said, wishing she had that in her own life. It had been so easy at first with Ron, so easy and fun, but she'd been mistaken in thinking it could actually last forever. Right now, it felt like nothing lasted forever. "Relationships are so hard."

"I know, but sometimes when they don't work out, it's for the best," Stephanie told her. She stayed quiet for a moment before speaking again, "I know I'm not in the best position to say this because I was with Chris at a relatively young age and I haven't been with many guys, but I think that maybe…I don't know, maybe it was the fact that Ron was your _only_ serious boyfriend that made you kind of…settle…"

"You think I settled?" Trish asked.

"I think it was easy, you know, for you," Stephanie said, trying to find the words that would accurately describe what she was feeling without hurting Trish's feelings by making her feel misunderstood. "I just think, okay, so you had Ron and you guys were happy, but that was high school and let's face it, high school is just its own world. If Chris and I were in high school together, there's _no _way we'd ever be together. I would have thought he was a complete loser. All he cared about was wrestling and he barely dated in high school, a few dates here and there, but he was a dork and I would've never given him the time of day. I'm just thinking that…when you left high school, you didn't immediately become a model, but it happened pretty soon after that and then pretty soon after that, you became a wrestler and then you were never around Ron so that high school relationship kind of stayed stuck."

"So what you're saying is that I was just content with what I had because it was the easiest option?"

"Yeah, because Ron understood your travel and didn't mind it. Now you're looking at all these days ahead of you and thinking to yourself, how can I be with someone else and you're feeling sorry for yourself, but you shouldn't. You've got the chance to find someone amazing, someone who gets the woman that you are now and you deserve that."

"Thanks, Steph," Trish smiled at her. "I guess I just didn't expect it to be so bad once I was home. I thought, okay, I'm done with wrestling now, _now_ I get to have an actual life, but then I find that the husband I thought I'd be sharing that with isn't exactly what I wanted."

"It's hard, believe me. I went so long thinking that Chris didn't truly want me, that the only reason he was with me was because of Finny and I lost time with him over that, time where I could have been completely happy, but I was constantly thinking, there's some woman out there for him and I'm not her."

"Except you so obviously are."

"Someday, some guy is going to feel that way about you."

"I hope so," Trish said and she really did hope so. Dating seemed so hard right now though, putting yourself out there, dealing with guys who only wanted her for her name. Why did it have to be so hard? Why couldn't she just find someone right now, someone who she could spend quiet days with and not worry about impressing them?

"So what happened at dinner?" Stephanie asked and Trish could tell by the tone in her voice that she had some idea of what had happened at dinner.

"Your brother told me that he was open to the idea of having a child with me," Trish just came right out and said it because it would make it back to Stephanie anyways and it might as well come from her mouth, "which surprised the hell out of me. I didn't expect him to say that to me, tell me that he actually wanted to go through with it."

"Wow…"

"You knew already, don't act like you didn't know," Trish said to her friend, giving her a look and Stephanie shrugged like she didn't know how else she really should react so she feigned surprise. "We didn't really talk much about it after he offered, he said he would give me time to think, what did he say to you and Chris? Was it anything?"

"Well, he's mostly talked to Chris, I think talking to me would be counterproductive."

"You don't think he should do it."

"I told him that I would support him with whatever he chose to do and I stand by that. If he chooses that he wants to have a kid with you and you're okay with that, then I'm going to be okay with that. I can't dictate what you guys do."

"But you don't think he should do it," Trish reiterated, wanting Stephanie's honest opinion.

"I'd be lying if I said that it was the best idea in the world," Stephanie said, "and I'm not saying that it's because the kid won't have two parents or because the relationship would be weird or anything. I'm just saying it because…I don't know, when you make a kid, I guess, I guess I always just saw it being with someone you loved and I know this is not the situation in the real world a lot of the time and even for me, Finny was a complete surprise, but I loved the hell out of Chris at the time and I still love the hell out of him. I don't know, I have that stupidly ideal vision."

"No, I had it too, you know, the husband, the kids…all of that," Trish looked down at her hands, the blank space on her left hand. "This isn't how I imagined having kids, but I'm not getting any younger. I want that baby and this might be the only way I can do it. I don't know when I might find that guy I'm supposed to be with and it might not be for another 20 years so what am I supposed to do until then?"

"Like I told my brother, if you want to have this baby with Shane, then I will support you. You're my best friend, Trish, I love you and I want the best for you. If you think that having a baby is what you want to do right now, then I'm there for you, I'm there and you and I will be pregnant together and then we'll raise our babies together and they can be best friends."

Trish laughed, "If I have this baby with Shane, our kids will actually be cousins."

"Hey, that's right, you could be carrying my niece or nephew, wow, I would be an aunt, I hadn't even thought of that," Stephanie said, "that'd actually be kind of cool. I know my brother has been thinking about family lately, especially with me and Chris getting married."

"So you wouldn't hate us if we did this?"

"Of course I wouldn't hate you, I love you both," Stephanie said, "I just want it to be right for you. That's all. I want it to be right for you guys and if it is right, then I say go for it. Having a baby changes your life."

"It would seem so, is Finn in bed?"

"Yeah, Chris is tucking him in right now, while Finny is probably making him read another chapter," Stephanie laughed. "The other one is just chilling, sitting around in some amniotic fluid."

"Can you feel it yet?"

"No, but then, I didn't feel Finny for the longest time so I have no idea when I'm going to feel this little one. That's when it really seems real, when you can feel it. I know that I heard the heartbeat, but there's still a little of that detachedness when you hear it because it's almost like, that can't be coming from me, but then when you feel that flutter, it's like…it's crazy."

"I want to feel that."

"It seems like you know what you want to choose."

"I just, everything that goes along with it is what I'm afraid of," Trish told Stephanie. She wanted a baby so badly, but there was so much to consider when it came to arrangements with Shane. She was already going to move to Connecticut or New York to be around her friends so that wasn't a problem, but then there was custody and child support and what other people thought and it was all so daunting right now.

"Take it one step at a time, Trish," Stephanie reached across the counter and grabbed Trish's hand. "Start with the important things and work your way down."

"I know your brother is going to want to be there with me through the whole thing and I love him for that, but I'm still scared."

"Why?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't even know why," Trish said, "it's just so much to consider. He's going to want to be there and I guess…I guess what I'm afraid of is that it's going to be awkward. I mean, I'm not having sex with your brother-"

"Don't need that image, thanks," Stephanie laughed.

"Sorry, but then I'm asking him to donate his sperm-"

"Again, donation would have been fine," Stephanie said, "but you're just a little weirded out that this is the route you're taking?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Who cares how you get there? Like I said, I was stuck in this ideal situation, marriage first, then kids, but it didn't work out like that for me, but I'm fine for it, you'll be fine too and as long as you love your kid, then it doesn't matter how they got here. Shane is going to make an amazing father and you guys can do it together. I know you're going to need to discuss custody, but I have no doubts that the two of you will do a lot of co-parenting. You don't hate each other, you guys are friends and you will raise this baby together."

"Look at us, talking as if this baby is real."

"Your hypothetical baby then," Stephanie corrected herself.

"I still can't believe he offered."

"He wants this too, doing this, I think, would make both of you happy and you both have a lot of love to give to a child and you would be great at it. Nobody can stand in your way but the two of you, Trish. Not me, not Chris, not your parents, not your sisters, not my parents."

"Oh God, I didn't even think of them!" Trish said, her eyes turning scared and worried. "They will think we're crazy."

"So lie," Stephanie said. "You guys don't _have_ to say that you were artificially inseminated, you could always say you slept together, if that's the way you want to go."

"I don't even know," Trish shook her head.

"But you do know you want to do this." Stephanie could see it in her. She could see that Trish's mind was pretty much made up. The only problem was she kept trying to talk herself out of it, tried to see all the problems with it instead of the good because, while not taboo, this wasn't exactly the usual recourse for these kinds of things. But Stephanie could see that her mind was pretty much made up.

"I do know that…"


	21. Chapter 21

First things first, Trish needed to be free in order to have her child.

It was what she was sitting across from Ron and his attorney and staring at him apprehensively. He was staring back at her and she couldn't figure out his expression. She'd filed the papers and now they were talking preliminary divorce settlements. They hadn't had a prenuptial agreement put in place so she knew things might get a little messy, but she hoped for her sake that Ron would make this easy for her.

They had been good together once upon a time, way back in college. The problem was that they never really left college. It was all so simple then. They'd met in high school, they fell in love and went to college together. Then the modeling world had come calling and that had been fine, nothing too difficult, but that opened the door to the WWF and that life took her away from Ron and they'd just grown apart without really noticing because they didn't spend much time together. It was so easy to convince herself that her relationship was fine when she only saw her boyfriend/fiancé/husband three days a week.

But retiring had opened up the gaping holes in their relationship and it didn't help that she saw how good Chris and Stephanie were together. The two of them hadn't even been married and they had one of the healthiest relationships Stephanie had seen and despite their temporary break-up, the two of them were so strong as a couple now and they were living the life she wished to lead. She wanted the husband and the kids and that just wasn't happening in the current situation.

She could still have the kid though and that thought thrilled her. She knew Shane would make a good father and she knew he was going to be there for her all the way and that was more than she could have hoped for. She wanted to start over, start with some new adventure and it seemed like the world was opening up to her in that way. This was something that could bring her back from the brink she felt herself on right now.

"Since you two didn't have a prenuptial agreement," Ron's lawyer said. "You are entitled to half of what the other has made in the duration of the marriage unless either of you wants to contest that."

"I don't want anything," Ron said, staring at Trish straight in the eyes. "I think that we should just keep what's ours."

"I think that's actually fair," Trish said, "I agree and I don't want anything that Ron made while we were together, that should be his and everything and I make more than enough and so does he."

"Okay, well, that was rather simple for today," Trish's lawyer, Jacob, told her. "There's still some details we're going to have to work out and we'll have to take inventory of all your possessions and decide how to divide that up equitably, but if there's really no negotiating then I don't want to keep you here."

"Thank you," Trish said, shaking her lawyer's hand and then nodding to Ron and his lawyer. "You'll keep in touch?"

"Of course," Jacob said, "you'll be notified if anything changes."

Trish went to leave and was nearly out of the building when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned and saw Ron was right behind her. "Hey," he said, stopping her from going on. "I was hoping that we could talk, maybe go to lunch?"

"Ron…"

"I just want to talk to you," he told her. "That's it, I just want to talk. I don't want to make things difficult for you or anything, but…I mean, I gotta say, this kind of came out of the blue for me and—"

"You think this came out of the blue?" Trish scoffed. "Are you kidding me? You really think that all of this was just some whim I had? That I wanted to uproot my life because I _wanted_ to do this?"

"Trish, calm down," he told her.

"Don't tell me to calm down," she hissed. "You're the one that wanted to talk, so let's talk. Let's talk about everything that I'm feeling right now, let's talk about how you're feeling. You weren't so willing to do that when we were married."

"Okay, come on," he grabbed her hand and led her out of the building. There were a couple of benches on the sidewalk and Ron took her over to one, sitting down and gesturing for her to sit down too. "Yes, I'm a little surprised by this. I thought you wanted to work on what we had. I know you left, but I figured you would come back and we could work things out."

"It's beyond that," Trish said, "If I thought we could work things out, I wouldn't have hesitated to try, but I can't believe you can't see how far apart we've grown. When I was with the WWE, it was so much easier, but now that I'm not, you have to see things haven't been the same."

"We're just not used to being around each other so much," he shook his head, "that's what I thought it was. I thought we just needed to get used to being around each other so much. I thought we were doing okay and then you're telling me you're leaving, going to Connecticut to be with Chris and Stephanie, and that I shouldn't contact you."

"You didn't."

"I tried to respect your privacy, you know I've always done that, but that doesn't mean I haven't tried to check up on you. I've called Stephanie _and_ Chris to ask how you were doing," he told her and she was astonished by the revelation.

"Chris and Stephanie didn't tell me that," she said quietly, then muttered, "why wouldn't they tell me that?"

"I asked them not to say anything," Ron said, "and I'm glad that they didn't. I love you, Trish, I have for so long now."

"Ron, I love you too, but you see it, don't you? I mean, when I thought I was pregnant, you weren't even happy and you kept calling a baby a pet project or something that was solely mine and not ours. You talked about how you were traveling so much more so you couldn't be there. You made me feel like a burden and that any kids we might have would be burdens as well. I was tired of living in that environment."

"I just never really saw us having kids, not with you wrestling for so long, I guess I thought that ship had sailed," he shrugged.

"Are you kidding me? You knew I couldn't wrestle forever, but you didn't even really give me anything in return when I thought I was pregnant. You acted indifferent and not like it was something that would be great. I want that, Ron, you don't, that's the end of it."

"I can do better," Ron said. "I mean, I won't contest this if it's what you want, but can't you give me a chance, give us a chance to be what we were. I still think we just need to get used to each other and be together for a while."

"How long does that take though?" Trish wondered. "I've been retired for a year pretty much and you haven't really changed and I haven't…we have nothing to talk about, you're always going out with your friends and so am I because we basically have nothing in common anymore. It was one thing when we were in high school and college, but we're not there anymore, we're adults now and I think it's becoming clear that our values aren't the same."

"I can change," he told her.

"I think you have," Trish said, grabbing his hand. "I never wanted this for us. You know that you're the only man I've ever loved or been with. Every huge relationship milestone I took with you, but…we were naïve back then, we thought we'd be together forever and we were just content to fall in those roles. We never got to see what was out there."

"Are you seeing someone else?" he asked. He refused to feel hurt if she was.

Trish shook her head. "I'm not seeing anyone at the moment. I haven't even looked at another man like that in so long I wouldn't even know where to begin. We've been together since I was sixteen years old."

"Yeah…"

"I don't want to hurt you," Trish said remorsefully and she didn't. It wasn't that she was out to hurt Ron; she was just starting to think she deserved more, someone who understood her better and she wasn't sure Ron was that guy. "I would never want that. I just think that maybe we settled."

"You think we settled?"

"I think we settled for what was easiest for both of us. For me, it was nice to know I had someone to go home to when I was on the road and by not seeing you a lot, I didn't really have to work at the relationship and with you, me not being there gave you a kind of freedom to be who you wanted to be and do what you wanted to do without me hovering."

"I hate to admit this," he looked down as if ashamed, "but sometimes, I felt like you were smothering me when you were around and then I would think to myself, how could I think this about my own wife? You're supposed to be around me, but you weren't around me so much that it just became the norm so I guess you're right when you said that things changed when we were together all the time."

"We realized that things had really changed, but we'd been too busy to notice."

"Yeah…" His squeezed her hand and held it in between both of his. Then he brought it up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "I never did stop loving you though, that's for sure. Every moment we were together, I loved you."

"You've been with me for like 14 years, I never had my doubts," Trish said. "I want to be able to talk fondly of you and to you. I know that will take time, but I don't want you completely out of my life. I don't think I could truly bear it."

"I could never…but I think I'm really starting to see your point in all of this. I want what's best for you and I want what's best for me and maybe it isn't this. God, though, where the hell do I start dating? How the hell does that even work? I didn't date anyone in my twenties but you and now I'm in my thirties and hopelessly lost."

"You're telling me," Trish laughed, "I wouldn't know either. I mean, am I just supposed to go up to a guy and hit on him? Is that a thing that girls do now?"

Ron laughed, "I have no idea, I mean, the only times I've really gone to bars are with you or with the guys and I never paid attention. This is going to be weird, I might have to join up one of those online dating services."

"Oh God, I can't even see you on one of those," Trish covered her face with her free hand and then shook her head. "I don't even want to know what type of woman they'd want to match you up with."

"Could you imagine if both of us were on there and they recommended us to each other," he joked and she looked up at him and leaned up to kiss his cheek. It felt so natural, so unforced and she pulled away a little only to be met with his lips on hers and she gave in like she usually did. The familiarity of it was such a comfort to her and suddenly she found herself making out with him and then she found herself in his car, and then she found herself back at home and in bed with him. It all happened so fast, in such a blur that she couldn't catch her breath. Everything was just so routine to her, being with him, making love to him, everything was something she'd done before and it felt so good after all the unfamiliarity of the day. It only occurred to her afterwards what had happened. She'd slept with her soon-to-be ex-husband.

And they hadn't used protection.


	22. Chapter 22

"I was stupid."

Stephanie looked up from where she was paying some bills. "What do you mean, Trish?"

Stephanie had noticed Trish acting strangely ever since she'd returned from Toronto. Stephanie, not wanting to pry, had decided to let Trish come to her. She had no doubts in her mind that Trish would tell her what was up. They were best friends, and there were hardly any secrets between the two of them. She just wanted her best friend to be the one to open up. Stephanie put her pen down so as to appear invested in the conversation, which she was. Trish took a seat across from her and bit her lip, as if trying to keep the words in her mouth.

"When I went back to Toronto," Trish told her. She shook her head, wishing that could get rid of the memory altogether, but it didn't. It was just sitting there, festering. "I was just stupid."

"Okay, you'll have to elaborate a little bit more," Stephanie told her, reaching forward to grasp her friend's hand. "Whatever it is, you know Chris and I are here for you. I'm your best friend, whatever happened, I'll be there for you."

"Well, I think I'm actually just blowing this out of proportion," Trish said, looking at Stephanie. She could see her friend was honestly scared for whatever happened, and it wasn't _that_ bad. She didn't want Stephanie thinking she was in terrible trouble. "I mean, it was stupid, but it's not life-threatening or anything."

"Oh, good," Stephanie nodded, taking a deep breath and pressing her hand to her stomach. "I swear, I could feel the butterflies going a mile a minute."

Trish laughed and pressed her hand over Stephanie's hand. "Don't let my godson or goddaughter get any butterflies in their mouths," she joked. Stephanie laughed.

"I'm okay," Stephanie said, "but I can tell you're not. Ever since you got back, you've been different, more subdued if that was possible. Was it really bad with Ron? I figured since you guys had been kind of estranged for a while, it might not be as difficult."

Stephanie knew she was pretty much talking out of her ass. She'd never been married before Chris so she had no clue what a divorce was supposed to feel like. She knew what breaking up with Chris felt like, but that was different. They weren't married so there was a nearly clean line that just went right down the middle when they broke up. A divorce was so much more complicated. She vowed never to let that happen to her and Chris. She didn't know if she could go through what Trish was going through.

"It's just as difficult when you're estranged," Trish sighed. "I mean, you have to sit there, with your lawyer next to you, staring at each other, trying to divide everything you have. It's just like, life shouldn't be like that. Life shouldn't be separated into things. It's like, that's not how it's supposed to be. You're not supposed to sit there and go, 'here, you can have the couch,' it's weird."

"I can't imagine," Stephanie told her friend. "I know it had to be difficult."

"It was, I was just sitting there thinking about how I failed. I completely failed. Then I start thinking about whether or not I was even a good wife. I probably wasn't, you know," she sighed. "I just…if I was, I wouldn't be getting divorced, right?"

"Trish, that's not true. Sometimes, this just happens, no matter how hard you try not to let it happen, it still does. You were in a relationship with Ron for such a long time. He was really all you knew, I think that had a huge part to do with things. Maybe you thought this was it, but you'd never really had anything else."

"I guess," Trish shrugged, "but it gets worse."

"Worse how?"

"Worse in the fact that I slept with him," Trish looked down at the table, embarrassed by her inability to keep her hands to herself.

"Oh," Stephanie said, "wow…may I ask you why?"

"I don't even know, that's the thing," Trish said, "I don't even know why I did it in the first place. After the proceedings with our lawyers, we were just walking out, and it felt like old times, before everything got all mucked up. Then we were in the car, then we were in bed, and it was just…it was comfortable."

"Okay," Stephanie tried to understand. She could understand how easy it might be to fall in bed with an ex. Ron was such a huge part of Trish's life that being with him was probably something she'd done so many times it was habit almost. She couldn't blame her friend for giving in to that kind of temptation, especially with all the turmoil going on in her life.

"Yeah," Trish said for lack of anything better to say. "Please berate me. I feel like I should be berated right about now."

"But why?" Stephanie asked her. "I don't think you should be berated. Technically, at least for a little while, he's still your husband…unless he's going to stay your husband? Did you two decide you were going to try and work it out?"

"No, nothing like that," Trish said, wincing. "I mean, I didn't…I didn't really give us the chance to talk about it."

"You didn't talk to him? What did you do, sneak out of there?" Stephanie asked, studying Trish's face, though it was still obscured some by her hair. Trish's lack of response gave Stephanie all the answers she needed. "Oh, Trish, what the hell happened?"

"I just, he was asleep, he _always_ falls asleep after sex, it's like he can't even keep his eyes open, he's been like that since the first time we were together," Trish said, "so he fell asleep, and I just laid there for what felt like forever, but it was only about fifteen minutes. I was so stupid, we were so stupid and I was ashamed for being so impulsive and weak. I gave in when I didn't want to give in. I should be better than that."

"Trish, you've got to talk to him, he could be getting the wrong idea right now," Stephanie told Trish. "You can't run away from this, it's not like you. You're not that weak. You're one of the strongest people I know."

"Oh, Stephanie, come on, _you're_ the strongest person any of us know," Trish told her. "You're the one who holds the entire world together while we try hard to knock it down. I don't know what to say to him."

"Do you want to be with him?"

"No, I don't. I know that if we got back together, it would only end the same way. The passion I felt for him, it's just not there anymore and it wouldn't be fair to go back to him only to have it end the same way, with additional heartbreak to boot."

"You should be telling him this."

Trish knew she should, but everything was scary to her. She didn't want any of this anymore. It wasn't even the biggest thing weighing on her mind. She knew she and Ron hadn't used protection when they slept together. She didn't know what that meant, but she knew it could mean that she was pregnant right now. Since it was only a few days after, she wasn't sure she could actually take the test. She remembered there had to be a little bit of a grace period. She didn't even want to think about what the results may be.

The thought of being pregnant with Ron's child was terrifying. If that ended up being the case, if by some odd twist of fate she ended up pregnant right now, by the man she was divorcing, she didn't know how she'd proceed. Would she want to be with him again, to raise their child? Would she not want to tell him? What would she do? So many thoughts wrapped around her brain, nearly suffocating her.

"I know, but…I don't want to."

"Trish…"

"I know, I know it's not the right thing to do, I _know_ I should put on my big girl panties and talk to him, but it's hard," Trish buried her face in her hands, "everything feels so hard right now, and I don't even know where my life is going."

"This is no time for self-pity," Stephanie said, but she scooted her chair over to Trish and hugged her crestfallen friend. "You know what you have to do, and you know you can do it."

"I think he might want to be together again," Trish said, "and I don't want to crush him for a second time."

"I know, but don't you think you're kind of crushing him now?" Stephanie asked, resting her head against Trish's back. "Has he tried to contact you?"

"Yeah, for the first couple of days, he tried calling me and texting me. I pretty much ignored it all though. I just didn't want to face him. It's so awkward now."

"You have to, Trish, you _have_ to."

"I know, please, just…I don't need the lecturing right now," Trish said, "there's some other stuff too, something that has the potential to be worse."

"Worse?" Stephanie asked, her eyebrows furrowing as Trish sat up. Stephanie pulled away so she could look at Trish. "What could be worse…oh God, Trish…"

Trish knew her friend could tell just by looking at her and knowing the circumstances, "Yeah, we didn't."

"Okay, well, it's too early to tell if you're pregnant, I think you have to wait, I don't remember with Finny. With this one, it was kind of a surprise. I think you have to wait, but they do have those early pregnancy test ones, those could work."

"I don't really know if I want to know right now."

"Trish, if you're going to talk to Ron, you need to know this information, just in case," Stephanie told her friend. She couldn't understand why Trish would be waffling so much, but again, she'd never been in this situation. "If you're pregnant, you have to tell him."

"I will…if I am."

"Don't act like it's bad, okay?" Stephanie told her. "This is something you actually wanted."

"Yeah, but not with Ron. He just doesn't seem like he wants any kids, at least not for a long time, if ever. He might feel like I'd be saddling him if I were pregnant with his child," Trish said fearfully. "I mean, I don't mind being a single mother, you know that, but knowing that my baby's father just doesn't want him."

"He still should know. Actually, you should tell him now because he should know just in case, you know, prepare for it."

"This isn't how things were supposed to be."

"No, but it is how they are. So stop acting like you can't handle anything and start handling it, Trish. This isn't going to go away. Chris and I thought we could run away from our problems, break up because it was easier, but it wasn't. You have to face some things head on, and this is one of these things."

"You're right," Trish said. "Okay, I'm going to call him right now and I'm going to tell him the situation."

"Good, I'm proud of you," Stephanie gave her another hug. "I'm right here if you need me for anything, you know that. If he acts like a jerk to you, then I'll be right there to take care of him, I promise."

Trish laughed, "I don't know what you would do."

"Oh, he'd be scared of me, that's for damn sure," Stephanie said. Trish laughed again, and it felt good to get this weight off her shoulders. Stephanie was right, of course, and Trish had known all along this is what she needed to do. She guessed she just needed the push of her best friend to get her going in the right direction. She was so lucky to have so many people in her life who wanted to help her and support her.

She was a very lucky girl.


	23. Chapter 23

"Hey, Trish, Steph told me to come out here and let you know that dinner was ready."

"Thanks, Chris," Trish said, sighing and standing up, her eyes still trained on Chris and Stephanie's backyard.

"You okay?" Chris wondered. "Stephanie told me to leave you alone while you were out here, that you were thinking. Is it anything I can help you with?"

"Probably not," Trish told him, but then she looked over at him. "Chris, how did you feel when Stephanie told you she was pregnant? I mean, like, what was your initial reaction, and how long did it take you until you were excited?"

"Wow," Chris rubbed at his chin for a second, "um, Trish, can I ask you if you're pregnant? I mean, that's not something you usually ask."

"I'm…I'm really not sure…Ron and I…when we went to get the proceedings going and everything, well, we kind of fell into bed together, and we didn't exactly use anything," Trish explained. "I don't know if I am, but…just, how did you feel?"

Chris glanced back into the house for a second, hearing Stephanie calling down for Finn and Cray. He pursed his lips a little bit, "Well, I wanted to run. My first instinct was, 'I've got to get the hell out of here.' Actually, no, my first thought was, 'Vince is going to kill me.' I had no idea what I was going to do, how I was going to work this out. I really wanted to leave, just run and never look back. Stephanie gave me that option too, I mean, I'm sure she's told you all this."

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Trish said, "she told me you were shocked, but she never told me you thought about running or that she offered you an out."

"Stephanie could have raised Finn by herself, very easily, but that's not how it should be," he told her, "that's not how I wanted it to be. I fell in love with Finn when I first heard his heartbeat, but I was already falling that first second I really thought about it. It's scary, yes, parenthood itself is scary, immensely so, but it's so damn rewarding. It's so…it's perfect, you know. Sure, nobody's kid is perfect, but when you look at them, it's awesome."

"So you think…I mean, Ron has said he didn't really want kids."

"When Stephanie got pregnant, I wasn't sure I wanted kids either. We'd _never_ discussed them, we never even discussed the possibility of getting married."

"See, but it had to be different with you guys. You two were just dating at the time. Ron and I had been together for over ten years. It came up a lot, and his opinion never seemed to waver, not once."

"Well, I mean, if Stephanie had told me or asked me if I wanted kids, I would have said no, thanks, and been done with that. It wasn't until Finn was not only a possibility, but a reality that I realized how cool this could be. If you're pregnant, you and Ron…well, it would be different."

"You guys, what's going on out here?" Stephanie stuck her head outdoors, "I said dinner was ready, what are you two doing?"

"I was just asking Chris what it was like when you told him that you were pregnant," Trish folded her arms over her chest.

"That night was terrible, at first anyways," Stephanie shook her head free of the thought of that night. "I spent a week trying to build up my courage to tell him, then, I just blurt it out, like it was the weather. I thought he was going to leave, hell, he was, but he surprised me, Ron can surprise you. Now come inside and eat before Finny eats everything."

Chris chuckled and walked inside to wrap his arm around Stephanie's waist, "I wouldn't want that."

Trish smiled at their interaction, "I think I'm going to get that early pregnancy test after dinner, do you think you could come with me, Steph?"

"Of course I can," Stephanie said, "you know I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but supporting you. I would let you use one of mine, but I don't think it's the early detection one."

"It's okay," Trish said, "I just want to know."

When she found herself staring at a bunch of pregnancy tests, all claiming to do the same thing, but somehow better than any of the others, she felt a little overwhelmed. She almost felt like she was standing on a precipice, except she wasn't sure this was a precipice she wanted to be hovering over. She wasn't sure she wanted a baby with Ron…actually, she _was_ sure she didn't want a baby with Ron. It would be a worst possible scenario if she were to actually have a baby with a man she was divorcing. Everything thus far had been rather easy, but if there was a baby involved, it changed the whole game.

"Here we go," Stephanie plucked a box from the shelf, shaking Trish from her reverie. "This one should work, don't you think?"

Trish looked down at the box. First Response, it said, for early detection of pregnancy. She just stared at it. She remembered the last time she'd taken one of these. She'd been so excited, so filled with anticipation and happiness. She'd practically beamed at the cashier as they rang her up. Now all she felt was a certain brand of shame. It was like the world was going to know she had no clue what the hell she was doing.

"Is this the one you bought?" was the only thing Trish could think of to say.

"Uh, no," Stephanie looked at her friend strangely, pressing her hand to her stomach, which was just starting to really show. You still had to look hard at Stephanie to tell she was pregnant, but it was definitely there. "I didn't really take it all that early."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, you mentioned that," Trish told her, "I'm sorry, I just don't know where my head's at."

"It's standing there wondering what you've done, believe me, Trish, I've been here. I've stared at the pregnancy tests, not knowing which was the best or what I should get or even what I wanted the ultimate outcome to be."

"I'm so glad you're here," Trish said.

"Come on, let's go pay for this," Stephanie said, grabbing Trish's hand and leading her to the front of the store. She paid it while avoiding the eyes of the cashier, as if the guy could tell just by looking at her that she was filled with shame and apprehension.

When they got back to Chris and Stephanie's, she went up to her room with Stephanie. Chris and Finnegan were nowhere to be found and Stephanie suspected that she'd told Chris to make him and their son scarce for a little while. Trish didn't think they should have to actually _hide_ from her, but it was nice not to have so many distractions before she got this over with.

"I hope you're not coming in with me," Trish managed to joke as she read over the directions on the box.

Stephanie laughed, "No, I don't think I'm going to go that far, but are you going to call Ron and let him know what's going on?"

She'd thought about it the entire trip home, staring out the window, just thinking. She weighed the pros and cons in her head and decided that it would be best if she took the test and then told him. If she was pregnant then it would become an issue, but if she wasn't pregnant, it would be a non-issue, and she didn't want to give him any false hope pertaining to any potential reconciliation. She'd meant it when she divorced him. They were different people now, and she didn't want to go back to a marriage borne of complacency.

"No, I'm going to do this first," Trish told her. "I just think that if I tell him and I'm not, it's going to open up a whole can of worms."

"What happens after this though?" Stephanie asked. Trish crooked her head to the side, wondering what Stephanie meant by that. "I mean, you know, on the baby front. You've been wanting a child, you've gone so far as to ask my brother if he'd give you one, so if this is negative, what does that do for you?"

"It doesn't change the want for a baby," Trish explained, "I just want them under _my_ circumstances, you know, not something that is going to just become a huge mess. But if I am, and that's still a big if, I mean, the chances are pretty low, but if it happened, I'd be incredibly happy about it because I'd love my kid."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear," Stephanie told her. "Now go, go pee on that stick."

Trish laughed, "Wish me luck!"

"I hope you get the outcome you want," Stephanie told her genuinely. "I'm going to go check on my guys, I'll come see you and see what the verdict is."

Trish almost didn't want Stephanie to leave, but she was a big girl, and sometimes life meant you dealt with the hard things alone. She walked into the bathroom and took the test, gently laying it down on the counter as she glanced as her watch. Now she just had to wait a few minutes to see what was going on with her body. She didn't feel pregnant, but it was better to know than to not know. She willed the time to go faster as she paced a little, but it wasn't going to make the time go by any faster so she sat on the edge of the tub, staring at the test, wondering what it was going to change to in mere moments.

She sighed and went to look, but it hadn't yet changed. She snatched up the box and read the directions over again, as if they had changed in the scant few seconds since she'd last looked at them. They hadn't and she put them back down, checking her watch again. Time felt too slow, like molasses or that last bit of ketchup you couldn't squeeze out of the bottle. Finally, it seemed like it was time and she walked over to it, taking a deep breath before she picked it up.

Negative.

She was relieved. She was so relieved, and she felt like dancing a little bit. She didn't want a baby like this, and she was so thankful it wasn't going to happen. She threw the test away, washed her hands, and exited the bathroom feeling like a new woman. Trish walked into the hallway as she heard voices down the hallway. She followed them until she got to Chris's office where the Irvine family was congregating.

Finnegan noticed her first, "Oh, hi, Trish, where were you?"

"I was just doing something," Trish explained. Stephanie and Chris looked at Trish expectantly. She shook her head a little, but neither one knew how to react so Trish threw them a grin. They visibly relaxed and Stephanie came over to hug her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Trish said, "relieved more than anything. This isn't how I wanted things."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I have to talk to Ron," Trish nodded. "It's the right thing to do, and I can't avoid him forever. He needs to understand I don't want to be with him, and I don't want him getting the wrong idea."

"Sounds like you've got things figured out," Stephanie told her.

"Believe me, Stephanie, I don't have a damn thing figured out."

"You will though, it'll come with time," Stephanie told her. "Look at it this way, you overcame this one obstacle, now you just have one more. After that, the world is yours, and if you even want to have a baby with my brother, well…then you can go do that."

"I know you're not cool with that whole thing."

"I'm not, _not cool_ with it, I'm just worried for you both, but you're adults, you can make your own choices."

"I better get this over with before I chicken out, thanks for being there for me."

"Always," Stephanie said before going back over to Chris and Finnegan, jumping into their conversation easily.

Trish trudged her way back to her room, that boulder she thought she'd gotten rid of perching itself right back onto her shoulders. She flopped down onto her bed, grabbing her cell phone as she did so. She stared at Ron's number for a good five minutes, gathering up her courage, before she pushed the dial button. She pressed the phone to her ear reluctantly, waiting for him to answer.

"Trish, is this you, God, finally!"

"Yeah, Ron, it's me…look, we need to talk."


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updating for the probably like 5 people who actually read this story, lol. Anyways, for those 5, I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

"That was a quick conversation."

Trish shrugged quietly as she looked up at Stephanie, who was sitting in the kitchen. She'd come down for a glass of water, not expecting anyone down here, but it looked like Stephanie made herself a cup of tea. She remembered when Stephanie was pregnant with Finnegan and tea helped her settle her stomach. It seemed this baby was the same way.

"Baby bugging you?" Trish asked, gesturing towards the steaming cup.

Stephanie nodded and lifted the glass to her lips. "Whoever came up with the term 'morning sickness' should be shot for giving women false hope that it only struck in the mornings. I don't think the baby likes the smell of chocolate, can you believe that?"

"Why chocolate?"

"I was getting some chocolate syrup for Finn's ice cream, and I swear, the smell was so pungent, I nearly emptied my dinner into the toilet," Stephanie shuddered. "At least it only lasts the first few months, if it lasted the entire time, I'd tell Chris no more kids."

Trish laughed, but it wasn't full of mirth like a laugh should be. "So I'm sure you're wondering how it went."

"I'm curious, but I know you'd tell me on your own time." Stephanie wasn't going to pry because this was business that didn't include her. She had to be the supportive friend, and that was exactly what she intended to be. Stephanie had not been exactly in Trish's position, but when she first found out she was pregnant with Finnegan, she, too, experienced a dizzying torrent of emotions.

Trish went to the teapot and grabbed it, sloshing it around to see how much water was in there. There was enough so she grabbed a teabag from the box on the counter and a mug from the cupboard before pouring herself a cup of tea as well. She walked over to stand in front of where Stephanie was sitting, leaning on the counter and warming her hands against the cup. She just stood there for a minute, studying the intricate patterns in the marbled countertop.

"I mean, what is there really to say?" Trish told her, but didn't look up from the counter. "I told him that I had a pregnancy scare, he wanted to know the results, I said they were negative, and he thought that maybe this was our second chance, but it's not."

"And he said?"

"That stringing him along was not the right thing to do, and I told him I wasn't," Trish said, "and I wasn't. I didn't _mean_ to sleep with him. I didn't mean to fall into bed with him or maybe get pregnant."

"Of course you didn't."

"And that was kind of it," Trish furrowed her brow together as she thought about it. "That's how this is really going to end. It's going to end with an argument and accusations. I dreamed about marrying him for years, since high school. He was always going to be it for me…and then he wasn't. How could I have been so deluded?"

"You're talking to the woman who didn't marry the love of her life for years because she was afraid she was tying him down by getting pregnant," Stephanie pointed out her own faux pas in hopes of getting Trish to feel better about hers.

It was no way to live with the stink of regret hanging over your head. She didn't want Trish to think she'd spent years living the wrong way. Trish had loved Ron, Stephanie had seen it, she could tell. Their marriage was not for naught. Their marriage had been borne of a love that they both wanted and cherished. Sometimes, the love wasn't enough or wasn't what either needed, but that didn't diminish it while it existed.

"How could I have been so wrong?"

"You weren't wrong," Stephanie said, and she spoke before Trish could interject. "You loved him, and it didn't work, but that doesn't mean you were wrong."

"I feel like it," Trish said. "I want a baby though, Steph. I want one."

"You want one with my brother," Stephanie pointed out.

"I don't see how else I'm going to have one, and he's on board with it now," Trish said. "I want to get started with that. I want to have a child. I want what you have with Finn, and what you're going to have with the new baby."

"I'm here for all of that, you know that," Stephanie reached across the counter and grabbed Trish's hand. "So what's the first thing you and my brother are going to have to do in order to give me a niece or nephew I'm going to spoil the hell out of?"

"I figure it's going to a doctor," Trish said, "and seeing how to proceed. I mean, I was reading up, and I think the two options are to either be artificially inseminated with your brother's—"

"I get what you mean," Stephanie waved her hand in front of her face indicating she didn't want to think about what her brother was going to have to do in order for that option to happen. Trish giggled a little bit.

"Sorry," Trish apologized, "and the other option, which I think I want to go for is for them to implant the embryos into me. I mean, I just feel a little weird about being artificially inseminated, don't get me wrong, it's not that it's bad, I just don't think it's the way I want to go."

"Well, it's up to you of course, and you're getting a great guy to have a baby with. One with strong genes, even, I mean, you are going to get a part McMahon, think about that, think about the power," Stephanie said, that certain gleam in her eye.

"Okay, scaring me now," Trish told her, "and I never really thought about that. Do you think your brother will want the last name McMahon? I mean, I don't mind…"

"You don't?"

"No, I mean, he wants to be a parent to my child, and it's a last name, it wouldn't change my role in his life if the baby was a McMahon."

"He'd love that," Stephanie nodded, thinking about how her brother would show off a baby with the last name McMahon, just like Chris always bragged about Finnegan to anyone who would listen. In fact, Chris started bragging about Finnegan before he'd exited Stephanie's womb.

"Do you think Shane will make a great father?" Trish wondered.

A serene and sincere smile came over Stephanie's face as she nodded slowly. "I think he'll be great."

"_Stephanie, I don't know how to take care of your son!"_

_Stephanie laughed and walked into the room. "Shane, it's not like he's a nuclear reactor. He's a baby."_

"_Still, Steph, you think I know what I'm doing, but I really, really don't, and your kid has colic, and I don't know how I can deal with that, and I'll probably break him," Shane told her, looking at his nephew, who was staring up at a few toys dangling over his head. He was a few weeks old, and he'd never dealt with kids, let alone a practically newborn one._

"_Shane, you'll be fine," Stephanie said, "Chris and I are going out of our wits with him. We just need one night off, please, I'm begging you, you'll be fine."_

_Shane could see how distraught his sister actually was. Finnegan was diagnosed with colic the week before, and his episodes were usually late in the evening, which precluded Stephanie and Chris from getting much sleep. This was in addition to Finnegan's sleeping schedule, which was out of whack as it was since he was only a few weeks old. Chris and Stephanie were nearly at their wit's end, and they deserved a break._

"_Okay," he said, staring at his nephew again. "I want you and Chris to get a night off."_

"_Thank you," Stephanie told him, "you have no idea what this means to us. Everything is so different now, we're just trying to get used to it."_

"_Hey, come here," Shane patted the seat next to him. Stephanie sat down heavily on the couch and her big brother wrapped her up in a hug. She buried her face into his shirt and he could hear her start to cry. "What's wrong, Steph?"_

"_Everything," Stephanie said, "we weren't ready for this. We weren't ready for a baby. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, and it's all so overwhelming, and he has colic, and Shane, he cries, and we can't even console him. He just cries, and it kills me because I can't even help my baby, and Chris and I barely get any sleep, and it wasn't supposed to be like this."_

"_Shh," Shane told her, "shh, you're doing a great job, Stephanie. Remember, the doctor said that they don't even know why some babies get colic, it just happens, and it'll clear up soon enough. You're doing the best you can, and you're obviously meant to have this baby because you have him."_

"_It just wasn't supposed to be like this. Chris proposed to me, you know, and I said no," Stephanie said, "because it's just…not the right time, and…"_

"_Shh, of course it isn't," Shane held her. "You'll know when it is. Come on, just lie down over here." Shane lifted her up and put her on the other couch. He grabbed a blanket and slung it over her. "You're obviously exhausted, take a nap before Chris comes home and you go out, you deserve it."_

"_But—"_

"_I've got him," Shane told her. "Don't worry, Finn and I will figure this babysitting thing out together."_

_Stephanie nodded a little as she closed her eyes. Shane watched her for a moment, until he could hear her breath even out. He walked over to his nephew and peered down at him. Finnegan looked up at him, as if trying to decipher who this could be. Shane moved the toy bar out of the way and lifted him up. Finnegan made a move to start crying, but Shane pulled the baby into his chest and rubbed his back, which calmed him down instantly._

_Shane began walking around back and forth, "I'm your Uncle Shane, you remember me, don't you, buddy. Of course you do, I'm the guy that's going to spoil you and buy you candy when your mom and dad aren't looking. You know, that colic thing of yours is a real pain the butt, I bet you hate it too, don't you? Yeah, I know, but it's going to get better."_

_Finnegan snuggled his small face into his uncle's shirt, reminding Shane of Stephanie just a short while ago. Shane cradled Finnegan's head as he gently swayed back and forth. Unbeknownst to him, Stephanie was still awake, but just barely. She watched as her brother held his nephew so reverently, like he was afraid he might break Finnegan. But Finnegan was a McMahon, strong and tough. He wouldn't break so easily._

"_Your mom and dad adore you, and your grandma and grandpas adore you, and I adore you, just so you know. You're a lucky kid, you better know that. I know your mom and dad may seem crazy now, but they love you. They dropped everything because they loved you. And I think you're going to end up being the best thing that ever happened to them. There was only so long they could act like teenagers," Shane kissed his head. "So maybe tonight when I'm taking care of you, we don't have an episode, okay?"_

Stephanie never told Shane she saw him that night, the first night he'd ever taken care of Finnegan by himself. Her brother had been perfect with him. Finnegan ended up having another colicky episode that night, but Shane just sat with him, rubbing his back, holding him, trying to make him feel better. Shane had been a godsend when Finnegan was the world's biggest crybaby. He would be a great father.

"You're lucky to have him, Trish."

"I hope so."

"And that kid…that kid is going to be _so_ lucky."


End file.
